It's a mating what?
by red-bell-again
Summary: Rachel decides to finish her summer vacation at home on the reservation. While she's there, she meets Jacobs gorgeous, volatile, younger friend. Rachel/Paul. Rated for language and lemons!
1. Chapter 1

_I figured out a long time ago that life, never goes as planned, constantly weaving in the unexpected to knock you off your feet when you…well when you least expect it._

_If it had gone as I planned, I would be twenty-eight, partner in a prestigious law firm, own my own condo, with floor to ceiling windows with a view that spanned the entire city and I would well on my way to being ridiculously wealthy. As it stood, I was right back where I started; I was everything I tried to get away from._

_It wasn't what I had planned, but would I change it? Hell no!_

**June 2007**.

"Rachel Black" The announcer called, and Rachel made sure her mortarboard was securely placed on her head and the dark crimson robes were smooth as she ascended the small set of steps at the base of the stage and walked across to the podium as gracefully as she could manage.

She reached for the paper scroll with one hand, firmly grasping the dean's pale and slightly sweaty hand in the other in a congratulatory handshake.

"That's my girl!" A gruff voice rang out, as Rachel shifted the yellow tassel of her cap from one side to the other before she left the stage. She glanced down into the front row to find her father, sat in his wheelchair at the end, clapping rather loudly and voraciously. She smiled, grateful that at least one member of her family had been able to make the trip for her graduation, and squeezed his shoulder as she passed him on the way back to her seat. As the lengthy ceremony continued, she clapped when everybody else did but her mind was else where.

Her dad looked well enough, but he seemed to have aged decades in the year since she'd last visited. Harry Clearwater's death had shocked them all and, although he was a picture of unwavering strength through it all, she knew how much it had broken him.

And her little brother Jacob? Well she knew that something was going on with him, and it wasn't helping the situation. Billy had said something about falling in with a new crowd, a demanding job and a girl…apparently the latter had worked out so well, and he'd decided to take off for a while.

Rachel scoffed to herself. When she had been accepted on scholarship to attend Washington State, she'd thought that her father would be proud. After all, it wasn't like she was moving to the other side of the country to marry a surfer on a whim like Rebecca had! Oh no, the reckless half of the gene pool was all her twin sister, Rachel was the level headed one who knew where her life was going and exactly how she would get there- But he'd made such a fuss about her moving into dorms, and whether he meant to or not, made her feel impossibly guilty about it.

Yet when he had informed her of Jake's virtual disappearance, he shrugged it off and told her it was just something he needed to do.

She shook her head, dislodging the niggling anger that was working its way in. The past was past, her dad was here now and he was proud of her.

"Hey, daddy!" She beamed as she approached him, her ceremonial robes tossed over her arm.

"Hey sweetheart." He smiled back, grabbing her hand and pulling her to him, his rough cheek resting against hers as he hugged her neck tightly. "I'm so proud of you, little girl."

"Thanks, dad," she blushed, taking the seat next to him and glancing around, taking a moment to wave to a passing classmate, "you on your own?"

Billy nodded, "guy from the Rez gave me a ride but, Jake's still off being…well you know how he gets, except this time I couldn't exactly force him to stay. You spoke to Beck's, right?"

"Yeah, end of the third trimester no air travel." Rachel sighed. "Still kinda bummed about it though."

"You know she'd be here if she could." Billy squeezed her hand, and she nodded "You got any plans for the summer?" He asked hopefully.

She stood and gripped the handles on his chair, waiting for him to release the brake before pushing him across the grounds towards the car park. "Well I have to pack up my room, pick a place to go and find a job. I'm thinking somewhere warm, with beaches, high class restaurants and an even higher divorce rate."

Billy chuckled, "sounds like you might need more than the summer!" He paused when they reached a waiting car. Rachel glanced at the driver who nodded politely in acknowledgement and opened his door. "You remember Sam?" He asked shifting his head towards the huge man as he walked around the car.

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "Sam Uley?"

"Hey Rach," he drawled, "It's been a while, huh?"

"I'll say!" she snorted as she gave her old high school lab partner the once over, "I mean you're like…and you used to be…" Rachel leveled her hand with the bottom of her ear.

"Honestly, fast track through college and she can't even complete a sentence." Billy chuckled and Sam joined in.

"Well I don't remember being that short, but I see what you mean." He grinned, "Oh congratulations, by the way, college girl!" He clapped her on the shoulder and she had to catch herself at the unexpected force of it.

"Sorry about that." Sam winced, and Rachel waved him off. "Ready to go?"

Billy nodded, and Sam opened the passenger door, waiting for him to maneuver himself into the seat before folding up the chair and placing it in the trunk.

"Nice seeing you again," Sam smiled as he walked around to his side of the car "if you come visit, you should come over, meet my girl Emily. I think you'd get along."

"I'd like that." Rachel nodded and turned to where her dad was leaning out of the window.

"Will you come and visit?" He asked, "I mean, once you've packed up and everything. You can search for a place to live and a job over the internet and you can store your stuff in the garage, save the money on storage…You won't need to rush anywhere, and who knows, your brother might actually pull his head out of his ass long enough to say hi!"

Rachel thought she heard Sam scoff at that. "I'll see how long it takes to get organized, okay? Have a safe trip, love you daddy…oh and if you do see Jake, smack him for me. Or better still get Sam to do it."

"Pleasure!" Sam grinned, as he started the car.

Rachel stood waving until they were out of sight. "Summer in La Push? Huh!" She mumbled turning back towards her dorms.

When she reached her room she opened the door to find her room mate camped out in front of their shared vanity surrounded by various cosmetics.

"Hey!" She smiled, catching Rachel's eye in the mirror as she rubbed a cream into her face. "So Elsie called just now, said she saw you in the parking lot with some guy. Anything you feel like sharing?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed, perching herself on the edge of her bed and kicking off her shoes. "It's nothing to get excited about Gem, it was my dad."

"I've seen your dad in some of your pictures; he's in a wheel chair right?" She asked and Rachel nodded. "Well then I don't think he's who Els' was talking about? She said, and I quote, 'Oh my god! This guy was all kinds of tall, dark and do-able, you need to find out who he is so I can take him home to meet my mother!' So let's try again, Rachel? Do you have anything to share?"

"That was Sam!" Rachel exclaimed, picking her shoes from the floor and walking to her closet to throw them inside. "I've known him practically my whole life, we grew up together, went to school together- he even singed my eyebrows off in tenth grade during a chemistry lab. It would be like looking at my brother and saying he's hot- all kinds of wrong, plus he has a girlfriend."

Gem cocked an eyebrow and grinned as she grabbed a recent photo of Jake and their dad. "I've seen your brother, he's definitely hot, totally wouldn't hold that against you!"

"Eww," She scrunched up her nose as her room mate chuckled quietly "don't go there, he's like six years younger than you!"

Gem turned the frame to face Rachel and pulled it to her chest with a pained look on her face. "But god he looks good for his age! Why couldn't there be two of him instead of two of you?"

"The Chief of Police from back home is a friend of the family," Rachel scowled as she pulled the picture from her giggling friend's hand "remind me to give him your details in case you decide to show your face there, protect all the rez boys from your cougar ways!"

"I am not a cougar!" Gem blanched. "You telling me you've never looked at anybody younger than you and just thought 'damn!'"

"Not at a teenager!" Rachel scoffed. "Now what the hell are you doing and…why do you have my Clinique stuff out? That shit costs tonnes!"

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist; I only used a little bit!" She exclaimed putting the bottle back in Rachel's drawer. "And seeing as you asked so nicely, I'm getting ready to go to a party. You want to come? Adrian will be there!"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Rachel growled. "If I ever see him again it'll be too soon."

"What happened, I thought you guy's were all amicable and shit?" Gem asked, flipping her hair down in front of her and brushing it.

"We were until he decided he wanted to be friends with benefits, now he won't leave me alone!" She sighed. "I'm all for a bit of fun, but if I'm completely honest I wouldn't exactly call it a benefit and he just won't take no for an answer!"

"Really? He's like…" Her room mate flipped her head back up and wiggled her little finger and Rachel nodded with a blush. "Well someone should let Elsie know, she's been barking after him since you guy's split."

"Or not?" Rachel shrugged and Gem chuckled.

"Oh hey, you got a message." She pointed to Rachel's desk with a grin.

"Oh my god, it's that law firm in Atlanta! They want to interview me next week!" Rachel squealed.

"That's great! Now we have to go out and celebrate." Gem insisted, running towards the closet and throwing out some clothes. "I mean this could be one of the last time's we get to hang out before you move…"

"I haven't even had the interview yet," Rachel said cutting her off "it's unlikely I'll even get the job!"

"Who are you trying to kid, that job is as good as yours!" She exclaimed tossing her a shirt. "And you'll be over two and half thousand miles away and I'll probably never get to see you, so get dressed and let's get drunk!"

"Really, two and half thousand miles? I didn't realize it was that far." Rachel whispered, looking down at the picture in her hands. "I barely get to see my family as it is, if I go to Atlanta…"

"This is the opportunity of a life time." Gem said grabbing her shoulders. "There will be other chances to visit your dad, but this is a one time offer!"

"Yeah," She nodded slowly "I guess."


	2. Chapter 2

Despite her initial reservations about returning to La Push, it was just three weeks later when Rachel found herself stopped short of the turning onto the road that led up to the tribal village, tapping her thumbs on the wheel of her rental car as she psyched herself up to complete the final part of the journey.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be here, because she did, it was her family home. She, her sister and brother were born right there in the family room, she had her childhood there, her adolescence. The whole place was a hive of good memories but underneath all the good ones, the bad memories were waiting to get out and sting her.

Like that day when she was eight. An uncharacteristically sunny day for the area in general and she was playing at the front if her house with her sister and their Barbie dolls while Jacob knelt quietly a few feet away, prodding at the mud with a stick.

Her head whipped around as her uncle Charlie pulled up in his police car with the chief, and she jumped up to run to him with a grin split accross her face. Charlie stepped back and held his hand up to stop her and when her smile faltered, he quickly turned his face away and coughed hard.

She felt a small hand slip into hers and glanced down to find Jacob staring up at her. Rachel squeezed his hand in reassurance and returned her eyes to Charlie who stood waiting at the front door, hat in hand.

Billy greeted his friend with a smile, leaning his weight on to his cane as he pushed the screen door open.

Charlie spoke but Rachel could only make out muffled sounds, and then he held out a clear plastic bag and she could see something glint as it caught the sun.

Then it all seemed to slow down. The little bag dropped onto the porch and Billy was trying to hold himself up, but his legs gave out. Charlie fell to his knees infront of him, effectively blocking Rachel's view of her father and that was when she heard it. A gut wrenching cry rang through the air and made her legs shake, but when she looked down at them she realised it wasn't her legs shaking, it was the terrified four year old that clung to them.

"Where's momma?" Rebecca asked from behind her, the dolls forgotten and discarded in the dirt. The Chief of Police walked slowly over to them and placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry kiddo." Was all he said as he led them towards the house.

Rachel puffed out a lung full of air as she shifted gears and drove up the road and onto a dirt track.

It still looked the same as she remembered although the general store seemed to have expanded a little. As she drove past, Sam came strolling out with an armful of grocery bags, followed by a fairly petite woman who she didn't recognise and assumed was Emily. He dumped the bags in the back of an old truck and grabbed her, peppering her face with kisses, and Rachel could see that she was giggling at the attention, bringing a smile to her own face as she turned the corner and lost sight of them both.

Minutes later she pulled up outside the familiar, red slatted house, which looked as though it had been freshly painted. She pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car, leaning softly against the door to close it as she quietly took in her surroundings.

She breathed deeply. Pine, damp wood and salt penetrated her nose.

_Home._

Rachel was pulled from her reverie by the sound of a screen door banging.

"Rachel?" She looked towards the house, and saw Jacob running full pelt towards her, knocking the breath from her as his arms enveloped her, crushing her to his chest and lifting her from the floor.

Her own arms wrapped tightly around him, her hands locking together at the back of his neck.

"I missed you." He mumbled into her shoulder.

"I missed you too Jake," she replied, releasing her grip and pushing back from him "but you could have come to visit? You weren't here last time I came."

"I know, sorry about that but, I've been really busy with work and everything" He shrugged. "Boss man is a little strict, gotta do what he says. Works kinda important right now."

"Who's your boss, anyone I know?" She linked his arm and together they walked back towards the house.

"Yeah, Sam Uley." Jacob nodded.

"Sam? Really?" Rachel mused. "No wonder he was so willing to smack you upside the head for me when I spoke to him at graduation."

"Yeah thanks for that by the way!" Jacob scowled, but the smile belied the truth.

"He actually did it?" She chuckled.

"Threw in a couple extra for himself. I deserved it, I shouldn't have left when I did." Jacob pulled open the screen door and motioned for her to go first.

"So, ah, why did you leave?" Rachel edged, and Jacob scoffed and shook his head.

"You mean dad didn't tell you already?" He smiled dryly. "My…friend, Bella. She got married to someone and I didn't exactly agree with it. He's a hell of a lot older than she is and his past isn't exactly clean."

Rachel folded her arms and watched her brother. "Think she chose the wrong man?"

Jacob sighed, and shrugged "To late now."

She opened her mouth to say something when the front door burst open, Billy wheeling himself inside.

"Hey Jake, any idea who that car belongs to?" He asked without looking up.

"The rental company." Rachel smiled as her fathers head shot towards her, "I have to return it in five days."

"Baby girl!" Billy beamed, "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago, been on the road since five this morning." She replied as she hugged her father. "Still got room for my boxes?"

"Yeah, Jake can move them for you, right?" Billy glanced over at Jacob, who nodded quickly and headed back out of the house. "Why don't you go and rest for a while?"

"Rest? I've been sitting in a car for eight hours, that's the last thing I want to do!" Rachel sighed "But a hot shower would be great! I'll just go get my bags."

"Oh, about that, I moved Jake into your room." Billy smiled apologetically. "He lost his temper a couple of months ago, broke his bed frame it was just easier to shift him into yours and Beck's old room. If you'd have called we could have fixed it for you."

"It's okay, dad. I can deal with a week on a mattress. Its fine." She squeezed his shoulder. "Looks like he needed the extra room anyway. What is he now, 6'5?"

"6'7 actually." Billy sighed.

"These friends of his, are they trouble?" She asked, her tone slightly more serious.

Billy smiled and shook his head. "Only if you're hearts mot beating!"

Rachel frowned as her father chuckled. "Again with the vampire stories! Still believe those old tales, huh dad?" She said as she headed to the car for her bags.

"Nothing is impossible, Rachel." He chimed behind her. "Keep that in mind."

A little while later, Rachel emerged from the bathroom redressed and towel drying her hair.

"Hey dad, what's for dinner?" She asked as she flopped onto the sofa next to him and focused on the game on T.V.

"Caught some fish yesterday morning." Billy replied taking a swig from a can of beer. "They're already to go, just need cooking. Apart from that shelves are a bit bare."

"That your way of asking me to do the honours?" She smiled, and Billy grinned and shrugged. "I'll go to the store and get a few bits to go with it then. Will Jake be eating with us, or is he working?"

"No he asked Sam for the night off, but I should warn you he has developed one hell of an appetite." He informed her, his eye's back on the T.V.

"Duly noted." She nodded, slipping her feet into a pair of flip flops. "I'm gonna take the beach path, stretch my legs a little. I won't be long."

Billy waved her out and she poked her head into the garage where Jacob was working to see if he needed anything before she followed the foot trail down past the cliffs and onto the beach.

Paul spotted Jacob as he walked from the garage, brushing thick grease from his hands onto his grey cut off sweats.

"Hey, Black!" He called, when Jake didn't notice him straight away. "I've worked the past two nights and Sam suddenly calls me to cover your ass, what the fuck's up with that?"

"It's none of your business, Paul." He replied, turning his back to him and walking towards the house.

"Like hell it's not!" Paul growled, grabbing at his arm and stopping him. "You've been back over two weeks and we're still picking up your share of patrols. You still pining for that leech lover? Well get over it!"

Paul frowned and sniffed, leaning into Jacob, a smirk splitting his face when he pulled back to meet Jake's questioning glare. "Or maybe, you already have. What is that?" He sniffed again. "Flowers?"

"Get the hell away from me Paul." Jacob ground out, his fist's clenched at his side.

"Why so touchy?" Paul grinned. "When do I get to meet the unlucky girl?"

Jacob opened his mouth but Paul held up his hand to stop him. Turning on the spot and breathing deeply, picking up on the fresh scent trail. "Maybe I'll just go introduce myself!"

Paul sped off, following the foot beaten path that led towards First Beach with Jacob at his heels, shouting obscenities and threats that were lost on his ears as he laughed with wicked glee.

"Don't worry Jake, I promise not to bite…Hard!" He laughed harder as he quickened his pace, all his effort placed in trying to stay the extra few feet in front of an increasingly angered Jake.

"Paul stop now!" Jacob yelled, reaching for him.

"You're not my Alpha Jake, you can't tell me what to do," Paul chuckled "besides, the smells stronger, I think I'm getting close."

Paul rounded a large rock that protruded from the cliff, dry sand flying back as he feet moved almost effortlessly across the surface. And then he spotted her, the only other person on the beach, a few hundred yards in front of them, her dark hair flailing in the wind, bringing the scent to his nose faster and stronger.

It spurned him on, enticing him forward. Jacob's shouts for him to stop were completely drowned out by the roar of his pulse in his ears, but the girl heard them.

She stopped and turned, merely feet away and Paul felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. His feet flew from under him, and he landed on his back and he quickly scurried back, his eyes never leaving the woman in front of him.

Arms gripped him, and pulled him to his feet. He could here a muffled voice coming from behind him but the only thing that was clear was her.

She frowned and looked past him. "Jake what's going on?"

Paul suddenly began to shake, she wanted Jake, she'd been with Jake, but she didn't belong to Jake, she was his.

_Mine!_

Jacob heard the rumble in Paul's throat, felt his skin rippling under his grasp and quickly moved to push him against a boulder, pining his shoulders as Paul began to snarl and shake almost uncontrollably.

"Paul!" Jacob shouted "Don't, she's my sister! She's my sister!"


	3. Chapter 3

"What's going on?" Rachel exclaimed, as she watched Jacob hold Paul's shaking body against the boulder. "Should I get someone? Call 911?"

"NO!" Jacob shouted, chancing a quick glance at her before lowering his voice. "No, he's just having a panic attack, it happens at lot with him and it's nothing I can't handle. You go on, I'll stay with Paul and make sure he's okay."

Rachel frowned a little, her eyes flicking from her brother to his friend who watched her intently, his eyes wide and dark as he struggled to correct his breathing.

"Go!" Jacob hissed, and Rachel nodded, completely ignoring her plan to go to the store and returning home.

Paul watched her run and immediately lurched forward to go after her, growling when Jacob tightened his grip.

"Let me go!" He hissed fighting against his grip, the jagged edges of the rock biting into his back. "I need to go."

"No, not until you calm down." Jake replied. "I can't let you near her, not while you're like this."

Paul scowled and brought his arms up knocking Jacob's hands from his shoulders. He winced as he pulled away from the boulder, smelling his own blood as it trickled from the tiny wounds.

He watched Jacob, as he his body stiffened, ready to stop him from following Rachel like he was aching to. Instead he turned in the other direction and ran in towards where the forest met the beach, his skin almost exploding from his body as a large grey wolf took his place and darted into the trees.

"_Paul?" _Jake's voice rang in his ears and he turned round to see the slightly larger, red wolf loping up behind him and falling in with his pace.

"_I can't do this right now Jake, just leave me alone." _He all but pleaded, his body tense, hackles raised.

"_You know I can't do that, I can't chance that you won't go after her and…" _Paul cut him off.

"_I won't hurt her, I couldn't hurt her." _He growled.

"_Not intentionally," _Jacob replied, _"look at Emily. Sam never meant to…"_

"_I never meant to what?" _The air popped and Sam's voice echoed around them from deeper in the trees and the red wolf let out a sigh.

"_It's Paul, he imprinted." _Jacob glanced quickly over to Paul, who quickened his pace and moved in front of him. _"On my sister."_

"_Well that's…" _Sam started.

"_Don't Sam, don't say it's great." _Paul growled.

"_Fine, but what does this have to do with me?" _Sam enquired, as his huge black wolf came into view.

"_He didn't take it to well. He was having trouble controlling the urge to phase." _Jacob explained.

"_I'm right here, you know!" _Paul barked angrily, and Jacob shook his head.

"_I was worried that he would change in front of her, that he would…you know_" Jacob eyed Sam warily.

"_Paul?" _The black wolf walked over and stopped in front him, sitting back on his haunches _"Jake's right."_

"_But I would never…" _Paul rose to his paws.

"_I didn't mean to either." _Sam said sternly. _"I was young, and I was all kinds of angry and upset. I didn't mean to hurt Emily, but she was so close and I couldn't control myself. Every day I have to see what I did, the pain that I caused her."_

Paul sank to the floor as Sam continued. _"You're not as new to this as I was back then, but you have always let your anger get the better of you. Could you live with, at best, seeing those scars on her body everyday?"_

"_Sorry." _He huffed.

"_You'll need to talk to her…Sooner rather than later." _Sam explained_. "Give her a chance to get used to the idea. It's going to be a lot for her to take in but, hopefully Jake and Billy will be able to help with that."_

Paul nodded and stood.

Sam turned to Jacob and nodded, and he growled softly.

"_Let's go talk to my dad." _Jake sighed before turning back in the direction of La Push. _"I can't believe you imprinted on my sister!"_

"_What the fuck are you talking about? This is all your fault!" _Paul barked. _"If you'd have just told me it was your sister I would never have gone after her and I would never have seen her!"_

"_Believe me Paul, if I could take it back I would." _Jacob growled. _"Living in your head is bad enough, living in your head once you've imprinted on my sister isn't exactly appealing!"_

"_Oh yeah, forgot about that!" _He sneered_._

* * *

Rachel banged around the kitchen, pulling pans and dishes from cupboards and rifling through the fridge in search of food that was still edible.

"Hey what's going on? I thought you were going to the store?" Billy asked wheeling himself through to the kitchen.

"I was, I just…" Rachel stopped and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She'd raced back from the beach her anxiousness growing the further away she got from her Jake and his friend, and it was still getting worse.

"Hey, come on sit down for a minute." Billy motioned to the kitchen table, noticing his daughter's distress. "What's going on?"

"I was walking on the beach, and all of a sudden I hear Jake screaming at this guy to stop." She frowned. "I turned around, and he was just running towards me, and the look on his face? He was just staring at me, and he started shaking and, and growling."

Rachel paused and shook her head. "Jacob pinned him down. He said he was having a panic attack and that I should just leave, that he could handle it…but I was so worried, I've never seen a panic attack like that before."

Billy watched her for a moment, before gently reaching to squeeze her shoulder. "Who was it? The guy?"

"Uh, Paul? I think Jake called him Paul?" Rachel frowned.

"Don't worry they'll be okay. Paul sometimes has trouble controlling his emotions, he and your brother have a knack for winding each other up." He squeezed her shoulder once more, glancing out the window when movement caught his and pulled back. "Just forget about it. Do you need any help in here?"

She shook her head and pushed herself from her seat. "No, thanks dad. I think I've managed to salvage enough for a decent dinner."

Billy nodded and left her alone, wheeling himself out of the house and onto the porch where Jacob and Paul were waiting.

"So?" Billy crossed his arms. "One of you mind telling me exactly what happened?"

Paul shuffled his feet nervously and mumbled.

"Your gonna have to speak up kid, not all of us are blessed with super hearing!" Billy frowned.

"He imprinted." Jacob sighed, watching his father. "On Rachel."

Billy sat back in surprise. "Well I wasn't expecting that."

"Neither was I." Paul said glancing up at him.

"You nearly phased?" Billy asked and Paul nodded dumbly.

"He stopped himself." Jacob offered. "I told Rach it was a panic attack."

Billy nodded stiffly and Paul lifted his head to speak. "Is she okay? Did I scare her?"

"She'll get over it." Billy answered, narrowing his eyes at the boy. "I guess this means your staying for dinner?"

A small smile began to spread across Paul's face as he nodded.

"Good," Billy said turning back into the house, " because I want to be around when you tell her about this!"

Rachel almost dropped the pan she was holding when Billy burst back in, followed by the guys. Jacob grinned at her , and when she glanced at Paul he smiled softly and mouthed "Sorry".

She tentatively returned the smile, as Jacob slung his arm round her. "Rachel this is Paul Cusick, we work together. Paul, this is my sister." He introduced them less than enthusiastically.

Paul stepped forward and held out a hand . Rachel eyed it nervously for a moment before clasping it with her own, her breath catching slightly at the heat that seemed to spread up her fingers. "Nice to meet you, Rachel." He smiled.

When he released her hand, she held it to her stomach, realising that the anxious feeling had disappeared. "Are…are you okay?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.

Paul winced in embarrassment, a feeling he rarely encountered until now. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Paul will be staying for dinner, if there's enough?" Billy chimed in.

"Oh, sure." Rachel nodded, "I did extra for Jake anyway. He'll just have to share."

Everyone glanced around when a rumble rose from Jakes direction.

"This is what you have a problem with?" Paul scoffed, "Sharing your food?"

"Oh no, I'm definitely not happy about what happened, but now your just pushing it!" Jake snapped.

"Boys!" Billy glanced between them, eyebrow raised.

"Am I missing something?" Rachel piped up from behind them.

"No!" Jacob and Paul exclaimed at the same time. And Billy sent an icy look their way.

"Do you remember earlier, when I told you to keep in mind that nothing was impossible?" He asked her, and she nodded. "Well now is one of those times."

He turned to Paul. "She's my daughter I don't want to lie to her if I don't have to."

Paul looked between Billy and Jake, and then back to Rachel. "Could I talk to you outside for a second?"

Rachel looked like she was about to protest, but Jacob stepped in. "I'll come with you."

Paul nodded and held the door open, waiting for Rachel to move.

"I'll watch the dinner, you go." Billy said motioning towards the door, and she folded her arms around herself as she stepped out side.

Paul walked next to her, Jacob trailing behind slightly and when she stopped in front of the house he shook his head and grasped her arm gently, tugging her towards the trees at the back of the house.

"You've heard all the stories right?" Paul said suddenly, making her jump slightly and her heart began to thump faster., as he clarified "About the tribe being descended from wolves?"

"Yeah." She answered warily, glancing back at Jake, who shrugged.

"Well then you've hear the stories about the protectors of the tribe? Taha Aki and the spirit warriors? The Cold Ones?"

"Let me get this straight, you pulled me out here to rehash the tribe myths?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrows. "I don't have time for this." She shook her head and turned to leave, but Jacob caught her arm.

"It pains me to say this, but give him a chance, okay? You need to hear what he has to say." He said softly, "It's important."

Rachel huffed and turned back to Paul. "Fine, but this better be good."


	4. Chapter 4

Paul rubbed the back of his neck, and glanced at Jacob who stood with one arm clamped tightly around his sister and the other shoved into his pockets nodding for him to continue.

"Ah, well it's kind of hard to explain." Paul murmured. "I guess…I guess I could just show you." Paul pulled off his t-shirt and pulled at the button of his shorts.

"Whoa, what exactly are you doing?" Rachel turned her head, and held hands in front of her eyes and Jacob growled.

"Shit, sorry I wasn't thinking!" Paul apologized quickly. Clutching the waist band of his shorts, he disappeared behind a tree.

Jacob pulled her back, placing himself slightly in front her, head tilted towards the trees before he lowered his mouth to her ear. "All the stories? They're true." Rachel sucked in a breath. "Vampires exist and some of us…some of us can turn into wolves."

At the moment, movement in front of her where Paul had disappeared caught Rachel's eyes. Jacob felt her tense under his arm as she spotted the large grey wolf push through the brush and step slowly towards them.

Paul could hear her heart hammering in her chest, and the shorts breaths that she was struggling to slow. He stopped a few feet away from her, and sank down to his stomach and onto his side, showing complete submission and vulnerability.

"Jake?" She whispered, grasping at her brothers arm, her eyes never leaving the animal in front of her. "What is that? Where's Paul?"

"He's right there, Rach." Jacob nodded towards him. "It's all true. Everything dad ever told us, is all true."

Rachel let out a shuddering breath and shook her head, "I can't…I can't." She stammered, turning and running back home.

Paul stood and let his human form take over, quickly reaching behind the trees to gather his discarded clothes, pulling the shorts back on and grabbing his shirt and shoes.

"She didn't believe it?" It was a statement more than a question and Jacob shrugged.

"Give her a while, okay?" Jacob said softly. "She always been the practical one, who believed in firm facts not myths and legends. When me or Beck's had bad dreams she was always the one to prove that there weren't any monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed and you just proved that we exist."

* * *

Jacob was sitting in his room that night when someone pounded on his door. Not waiting for an answer, Rachel barged in.

"That was a shitty thing to do!" She screeched. "It wasn't clever and it wasn't funny!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He scowled, ducking quickly when she hurled an old little league trophy at his head.

"What do you think I'm talking about?" She exclaimed, stalking towards him, and Jacob decided there and then, that no vampire was scarier than his older sister.

"I seriously have no idea!" He ducked again, his bedside lamp shattering against the wall. He took the chance to dart from the room and out to the porch, where he found Paul, breathless from running and pulling his clothes back on.

"What's going on? I heard Rachel screaming is she okay?" He breathed out.

"Physically yes," Jacob nodded, "but mentally? I think maybe we fucked her up a little."

"You!" Rachel growled as she stalked through the door, pointing at Paul who seemed to be battling the need to go towards her and the urge to run away as her finger nail pressed into his skin. "I was actually worried about you, you stupid little…"

She screeched and hurled her clenched fist into his bare chest. Paul winced at the thump and Jacob's mouth opened in horror.

Rachel's eyebrows knitted together, her face turning red as she held her breath. "Jesus, fucking Christ!" She yelled cupping her fist in her other hand and stamping her foot, "Holy shhh… that fucking hurt!"

Jacob ran inside mumbling about an ice pack and Paul stepped towards, grabbing her wrist and pulling the injured hand under the light.

"Get off me!" She growled trying to yank it back, but he tightened his grip slightly.

"Can you straighten your fingers?" He asked trying to prise her fingers from her palm, and Rachel continued to curse under her breath and she tried to flex them. "You shouldn't have done that. Part of what we are is that we don't hurt easily, and we heal fast…unlike you."

"Would you stop with that already!" Rachel hissed, finally pulling her hand back as Jake came back carrying a towel filled with ice. "I don't know exactly what it is your taking, legal or not, but they are just stories and if this is a joke then wasn't funny to begin with!"

"Fine," Paul growled "I'll prove it and this time you watch." He grabbed her good arm and pulled her gently round the back of the house where he couldn't be seen.

"Will you stop taking your clothes off in front of me?" Rachel exclaimed, clutching her hand to her chest as he began to remove his shorts again.

"You'll get over it!" He growled back, dropping them to his ankles and Rachel blushed as she tried unsuccessfully to divert her eyes. "Just stay back-don't move at all!"

His skin began to ripple and shimmer as she watched, turning from taught, tanned flesh into grey fur. His limbs lengthened and twisted and in seconds, where Paul once stood, there was a wolf.

"Do you believe us now?" Jacob asked from behind her, making her jump.

She frowned at him. "You too?" And he nodded.

"I'll be inside if you need me." He said softly, throwing a quick glance in Paul's direction and he nodded in return.

Rachel watched her brother leave, listening to the door close before she turned back to the wolf, who sat on it haunches waiting for her.

She stepped forward and Paul leaned away slightly, the fear of hurting her still fresh in his mind.

"Can I?…I just want…" She stammered. "Can I feel you?"

Paul's eyes widened, but he nodded, stilling his body as she carefully approached.

She breathed hard as she raised her good hand to his nose, hovering above it.

He was growing slightly impatient for her touch and nudged her hand and she jumped back and giggled with shock.

"It's cold!" She chuckled, looking at her palm. Still smiling she put her hand back on his nose and slowly ran it up his snout, between his eyes and pushed her fingers into the hair on the top of his head.

The wolfs eyes fell shut with her touch and a large sigh escaped its mouth. Paul felt relief as her fingers twisted his fur.

"Holy shit! You're really a wolf, it's all rea!." She whispered to no one in particular, and Paul nodded his head and grunted slightly.

"You can't talk like this?" She asked and shook her head. "Of course you can't. You can understand me though, right?"

Paul opened his mouth and let his tongue flop out in what he hoped resembled a smile, and Rachel chuckled slightly.

"Are there more of you? Beside's you and…and Jacob?" She frowned slightly at her brothers name.

The wolf stood slowly and Rachel backed away, watching as Paul reappeared. She watched the floor as he pulled his shorts up over his hips and gently guided her to the porch steps, where he sat, looking up at her.

"There are ten of us in total, for now at least anyway." Paul shrugged as her head shot up.

"Ten? Who?" She asked, wincing slightly when her took her wrist and pulled her down next to him. He picked up a makeshift ice pack, that lay discarded on the boards and held it to her hand.

"Well me and Jake obviously, but he's kinda of the Beta of the pack and Sam's Alpha, the leader." He looked up at her face and she was watching him intently. " Quil, Embry, Jared, Leah, Seth and the twins." He finished.

"Seth? As in Clearwater?" Rachel exclaimed. "But he's like, fourteen!"

Paul nodded and inspected her knuckles. "He was thirteen when it happened, just after Harry passed, the emotion is kind of the final trigger for it all. With Seth and Leah it was grief, Jake got angry and I was always angry." He chuckled dryly. "Still am most of the time."

"Is that what happened earlier?" She asked softly, when he finally met her eyes and he nodded.

"I'll break it down for you." Paul sighed " A couple of years ago a coven of vampires came to live in Forks, on the other side of the forest, and their presence re-activated the wolf gene. Sam went first, then Jared, me, Embry, your brother…At first the change is hard to control and the slightest thing will flip the switch but it get easier the longer you do it, not that Jake ever had that problem."

"A wolf gene?" Rachel gasped "But if Jake has it does that mean that I do? What happens if I stay here?"

"Well so far everyone who phased was under twenty, Sam's the oldest and he was nineteen when it happened." He shrugged and smiled "It's unlikely it'll happen to you, especially now."

"What's that supposed to mean!" She scowled, as Jacob stepped out onto the porch.

"Hey, it's getting late." He informed them.

"I wasn't aware I had a curfew?" Rachel said turning to him.

"You don't, but we have work to do." Jacob turned to Paul. "Sam called, the last patrol picked up faint trail. It could be old, but he want us to double up just to be on the safe side."

Paul nodded and stood as Jacob walked into the shadows, gently releasing Rachel's hand. "I don't thinks it's broken, but you might want to get it checked out any. The last person that did that ended up with a cracked knuckle." He glanced at Jacob and chuckled when he scowled, but when he turned back to Rachel his smile was gone. "You can't tell anybody about us, about the pack. Not your friends, not even your sister. Only certain people are allowed to know."

"My dad?" Rachel whispered.

"He knows," Paul nodded "He's an elder now and it was kind of hard to miss Jake bursting into a wolf in his back yard!"

A small bark came from behind them and they turned to see the head of a large, russet wolf peeking around the corner of the house.

"Jacob!" She gasped, and the wolf's tongue flopped between it's teeth.

Paul laughed and started towards him. "He'll be back in the morning." he told her as he slipped out of sight.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: You'll have to forgive me for this chapter, it's not as good as I hoped it would be. I got a little stumped and lost where I was going with it. Anyway, Thanks for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated, and Merry Christmas!**

The next few days passed quickly, blending almost seamlessly into each other. Rachel watched as Jacob would come and go, sending him knowing looks but never actually speaking to him about the big 'reveal' and she hadn't seen Paul at all, which left her feeling strangely odd.

Sam had called round the night before with Emily in tow, to introduce them both quickly and invite her to a bonfire being held at the top of the cliff later this evening and she had graciously accepted, somewhat enthused by Emily's apparent eagerness at having another girl there.

"You okay?" Jacob asked as he walked up to the fridge and pulled out a soda, his sudden appearance making Rachel yelp in surprise.

"Shit, don't do that!" She gasped holding her hand over her rapidly beating heart, as Jacob smirked.

"Just think of it as payback for all those times you hid behind my bedroom door and jumped out at me." He said before swallowing half the can of pop in one gulp.

"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" Rachel asked timidly and Jacob nodded, watching as she shuffled her feet. "Will P…will everyone be there? Should I take something, like a pie or pasta?"

"Everyone will be there." He replied, purposefully ignoring her little slip. "But if your going to bring something it's going to have to be a lot more than one pie. There are eight of us to feed remember? Plus the elders and the family."

"Oh right, well I don't have enough stuff here to make more than one." Rachel frowned and began looking through the cupboards. "Are you busy right now?"

Jacob shook his head "Why?"

"Well I need to return my rental car to the office in Port Angeles; do you think you could follow me down in your car? Then we can hit up the Wal-Mart on the way back for more food supplies." She explained already grabbing her keys and purse. Jake agreed and pulled on his tennis shoes before following her from the house.

"Hey Jake!" They both turned at the sound of his name to find Sam behind them with Paul and Embry. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Can it wait?" Jacob asked "Rachel needs to return her car to the rental company and I was gonna bring her back."

"No," Sam said sternly "give Paul your car key's, he can go with her."

Rachel's eyes flew to Paul's, and she couldn't help notice the small smirk that was itching to free itself and her stomach flipped at the sight of it.

"Can't you just…" Jacob hissed but Sam held a hand up, stopping his words.

"You can't stop this Jake, it's been done and it's not your decision." Sam whispered "Let it go."

Jacob growled and fished his keys from his pocket, shoving them at Paul's chest hard enough to pierce the skin and draw blood. "You do anything to her and I will kill you, do you understand me?"

"You have my full permission." Jacob nodded stiffly and Paul brushed past him and stood next to the rabbit, pausing momentarily to glance a Rachel and wait for her to get in her car.

* * *

Rachel found herself growing nervous as she handed back the car keys to the girl behind the counter at the rental office and signed the receipt. She could feel Paul's eyes on her from where he stood out in the parking lot and it sent a shiver through her body, the mere thought of spending the next couple of hours in a car with him was doing funny things to her body.

"Ma'am?" The girl behind the counter called, trying to regain Rachel's attention long enough to return her copy of the receipt, surprising her in the process. Her purse slipped from her hand and the contents spilled over the floor.

"You okay?" Paul asked, suddenly next to her as she knelt to the floor, hastily grabbing the loose change, half empty lip gloss containers and sweet wrappers and shoving them back in to her purse.

"I'm fine; I just got a bit distracted." She replied quietly, feeling her cheeks grow warm and her heart speed up when he handed back her dropped cell phone. "Thanks."

She stood and took the piece of paper that sat on the counter, turning briefly to thank the receptionist only to find that her gaze was locked on Paul and she felt a sudden wave of jealously fill her.

"Can I help you?" The girl asked, standing from her chair and leaning over the counter towards him.

Paul cocked his eyebrow at her and shook his head. "No, I have everything I need thanks." He rested his hand on the small of Rachel's back, quelling her jealously almost immediately. "You done?"

Rachel nodded and left the office, Paul's hand still on her back scorching her skin through her t-shirt. When he pulled away to open the passenger door of the rabbit she almost sighed at the loss of his heat, suddenly craving his closeness.

She sat in the car and shook her head to clear it as she waited for Paul to start the car. "I need to go to the store on the way back please." She said softly as he pulled on to the road.

"Sure." He smiled at her.

"I was going to make some pies for tonight. To take to the bonfire." Rachel exclaimed as suddenly felt the need to fill the silence. "Will you be going?"

Paul chuckled and nodded, "If you're there, then I'm there."

Rachel was slightly taken aback by his answer and swallowed nervously.

"You don't have to bring anything though." Paul said quickly, noticing the sudden shift in her demeanor. "No one expects you too."

"I know." She nodded, and babbled "But I was always told never to go to a party empty handed. Birthdays and Christmas you take presents, barbeque you take salad, for wakes you take casserole, frat parties mean booze and I wasn't sure what to take to a bonfire so pie it is!"

"I'll have to remember that!" He chuckled at her obvious nerves, and silence drifted over them the rest of the way to the store.

* * *

"So how many pies are you planning on making?" Paul asked as he dutifully pushed the shopping cart after Rachel as she trawled the aisles, throwing in all different kinds of stuff.

"I don't know, six?" She shrugged "Do you think that will be enough? I mean I've seen Jake eat and he would quite happily scoff a whole one, and there's eight of you…Six isn't going to be enough!"

"Rachel!" Paul smiled grabbing her wrist, stopping her from tossing more sugar into the cart. "Six is fine, it's more than enough, and we can share when we have to. But the bonfire starts in five hours and we still have to get you home, are you gonna have enough time?"

"That's where these come in." She smirked, holding up ready made pie crusts, and Paul chuckled "That's my girl."

They continued down the aisles, occasionally stopping for something. Rachel slowed, letting Paul walk in front of her as she stopped to grab some tinned fruit, using the moment to quietly observe him.

He may have been leaning over the cart but he was obviously tall. His skin was smooth and taught and a shade darker than her own. She guessed it from all the time he spent walking around without a shirt on, and underneath were some glorious muscles. His face displayed an almost boyish grin and his eyes were equally playful.

His eyes. Rachel blushed furiously when she realised she'd been caught staring.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Paul smiled.

Rachel shook her head. "Oh um, I was just trying to figure out what to do for the last pie. Do you…what's your favourite?"

"Mine?" He asked a little surprised "Chocolate Pecan."

"I can do that, I just have to grab your nuts, I mean the Pecan nuts!" She stared wide eyed at an open mouthed Paul, willing the ground to open up and swallow her whole. "I'll get the nuts and we can go." She mumbled, walking away from him.

Together, and in complete silence they headed to the till and paid for the food, the whole time spent with Rachel sending death glares to the young girl scanning her shopping through while she shamelessly ogled an oblivious Paul.

Rachel stormed from the store with her bags, angry that the girl had the audacity to look at Paul like that while she was standing there and even angrier that she felt that way. It wasn't as if she knew him _that_ well.

"Let me take those." Paul said falling into step with her, and attempting to grab a bag from her arms.

"It's fine I can manage." She scowled and turned away but Paul ignored her and took them, nimbly shifting them into one arm as he opened the trunk of the car and placed them inside.

"Is something wrong?" He asked slipping in behind the wheel and looking over at Rachel, who sat with her arms folded and her gaze tightly locked on something outside of the car.

"No!" She hissed, and Paul shrugged and started the car, pulling out of the store lot and back onto the road.

"I mean who does she think she is!" She yelled suddenly, turning her entire body in the seat to face him, and he jumped slightly at the outburst. "We're obviously there together and she spends the whole time drooling over you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Paul said, confusion etched on his face.

"That girl in the store!" She exclaimed. "She scanned the same jar three times because she was too busy looking at you. I mean I know we're not together or anything, but she didn't and she was so obvious about it, I honestly expected her to jump over the till and dry hump you right there on the conveyer belt!"

Paul stared at her, his mouth opening and closing and his eyes wide. "So… she was looking at me?" He frowned. "And you had a problem with that?"

"It was rude!" She yelled, sinking into her seat, her face flushing red again as she mumbled under her breath. "If I _was_ your girlfriend I would have clawed her eyes out."

Paul smirked "Well if it helps, I didn't notice her at all and if it was a guy looking at you? I would have gladly taken his head off, boyfriend or not."

Rachel frowned and picked at her cuticles and Paul turned his attention back to the road.

"This is weird." She stated quietly, not looking up. "I don't understand where this is all coming from. You're Jake's friend, I don't even know you, but I'm ready to maim anybody who so much as looks at you and I have no idea why!"

"It's not that weird." He replied quietly. "From what I hear it's pretty normal."

"How is this normal?" She exclaimed. "Aside from the other night when you told me about the wolves, this is the longest conversation I've had with you and the entire thing has been about my apparent violent tendencies towards other women where you're concerned!"

Paul chewed his lip as he considered the best way to tell her about the imprint. "Do you know that Sam and Leah Clearwater used to be together?" Rachel frowned at his question but nodded and he continued. "They were together for two years before Sam phased, he had everything planned out for them, home, job and family. Then one day, a couple of months after he first turned into a wolf, he was walking across the reservation when he spotted a woman he'd never seen before and when she turned to look at him his whole world turned upside down."

Rachel was still frowning. "What?"

"At that moment, it was as if the whole world had been pulled out from under him and she replaced it. She became his sun, his air, gravity and his peace. It was Emily." He explained.

"Am I supposed to understand the hell you're talking about?" She scowled and Paul rolled his eyes.

"It's another wolf thing, like the strength, speed or the accelerated healing. It's called imprinting." He sighed "It's like love at first sight, but stronger, much stronger. That person is _the one_, your absolute soul mate, your one and only. First time we even look at the right person? They become our everything, the centre of the universe as far as we're concerned and everything revolves around them. We can and will do anything for them."

"That's uh…it's" Rachel stammered.

"Weird?" Paul suggested.

"That's one word, yeah!" Rachel nodded. "So Sam imprinted on Emily? But what about Leah?"

"Yeah, obviously it didn't go down so well with Leah." Paul cringed. "Sam tried to deny the imprint for a while, but it was impossible and physically exhausting. It's almost as if you're physically tied to this other person and the further away, the more you ignore it the harder the pull becomes. As much as he loved Leah, and he did, Emily was more."

Paul turned on to the road up to the reservation and Rachel sat watching him as he continued. "Because Leah wasn't a wolf yet or an imprintee, Sam couldn't tell her the truth so all she knew was that the person she loved had chosen someone else over her. About a year later she phased and Sam took her aside to explain it, but it didn't really make a difference."

"Wow." Rachel cocked an eyebrow, and Paul slowed the car to a stop outside the Black's house.

Rachel jumped out the car and walked to the trunk, picking up her grocery bags. Paul stood and leaned against the side of the car, pushing the trunk shut when Rachel had her arms full. "Could you get the door for me?" She asked and Paul ran ahead, opening the front door and holding it wide so she could slip through..

"I have a question." She said as she began putting the contents of the grocery bags away. " If no one is supposed to know about you, then why did you tell me?"

"You haven't figured it out?" Paul smiled softly as she turned to him and frowned in confusion. "I imprinted. On you."


	6. Chapter 6

"Rachel?" Paul stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her elbow ."Are you okay?"

She turned her head towards him and smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks for helping me today, I would've taken me ages to get home by myself. I better make start on these pies though, so maybe I'll see you later."

Rachel went back to her bags and Paul frowned, "But what about what I…"

"Goodbye, Paul." She said sternly, her hands gripping the kitchen counter tight enough hat her knuckles paled to almost white.

Paul blinked in surprise at the sudden dismissal, "Bye, Rach." He murmured, dropping Jacob's car keys on the kitchen table and walking out of the house.

As soon as he was outside he broke into a run and headed straight for the forest, and when he hit the tree line he skidded to a stop. His shoulders shook and his chest rose and fell almost uncontrollably as he balled his fist and slammed it into the nearest tree, splintering under the force, He let a deafening howl as his skin exploded to make way for his wolf.

"_Paul? What_…" Sam's voice echoed in his head, cut off when he ran through the last few hours he'd spent with Rachel.

"_Oh_." he sighed, "_I'm sorry Paul. Just give her some time, I'm sure she's just surprised by it all_."

"_She didn't even acknowledge it_," Paul growled "_she told me she's been feeling…unexpected things about me and I know it's the imprint she's feeling, so why won't she talk to me about it_?"

"_You can't force her Paul, it's her choice whether she follows the imprint_." Sam said, "_I know it's not what you want to hear, but you need to accept that she may decide she doesn't want this. Rachel's had a lot of information thrown her way over the past week, and she's handled it pretty well so far._"

Sam's black wolf trotted through a break in the trees and fell into step with Paul, "_all you can do is wait, let her work through it all, answer all her questions and pray for the best."_

"_But what if she decides she doesn't want me_?" Paul asked, his thought almost childlike.

"_If she doesn't want you as a mate, then there's not much you can do about other than hope she changes her mind and if she doesn't then you will be her friend, her confidant…anything she wants, that's what you'll be._" Sam explained.

"_Was it this hard for you?" _Paul questioned and was immediately bombarded with memories of Emily with a perfect face and perfect smile that suddenly contorted into a look of sheer terror. Then she lay in a hospital bed, completely motionless with most of her face and the upper half of her torso bound tightly in thick bandages.

"_It had been just over a month since I started phasing that imprinted on her, it wasn't like with you, or Jake or Jared, I didn't have anyone to lean on, to understand what I was going through. The elders recognised it, sure, but they didn't have to live it like I did_." Sam explained softly, "_I was still so volatile, I should never have gone to see her, but I had to see her, I needed to see her and she denied me right away, because of Leah and something in me just snapped and it was completely out of my control, I felt completely powerless against the wolf_."

Sam stopped and sank to the ground. "_The first three months of my imprint were spent in a hospital room, listening to a beeping heart monitors, ignoring her pleas for me to leave and enduring every scream that passed her lips when they changed her bandages, willing for her pain to be my own_." The wolf let out a huge sigh and Paul looked on in quiet awe at Sam's words. He'd seen the memories before but he'd hardly ever spoken about what had happened.

"_Eventually I worked up the courage to stand within two feet of her, and she let me. She held my hand will they changed her, and she started talking to me to take her away from the pain and even after what I did to her, we became friends. After she left the hospital, Leah shunned her and Sue wasn't much better, but they didn't understand, they couldn't. Harry did though, he knew what was going on between us and he talked Emily into moving onto the reservation, into the house that's now ours, so that he could help care for her. I was always close by, helping her with what ever she needed, shopping, cleaning, cooking, changing her bandages and eventually the friendship changed_."

Sam chuckled dryly "_I guess what I'm saying is that, yeah it was hard, if I could go back and change what I did to her I would, but going through what we did together made us what we are. Everything happens for a reason, you just need to wait it out_."

Paul nodded, unsure of exactly what he should say, but Sam stopped his thoughts. "_You don't need to say anything, I wasn't after pity, you asked me what it was like for me so I told you._" Sam leapt to his feet. "_Now lets move, the bonfire is supposed to start in a couple of hours and we need to get the fire going and find enough drift wood to keep it going." _

* * *

Rachel pushed her father along the beach path, pie boxes placed carefully on his lap.

"You okay, baby girl?" Billy asked quietly breaking their silence, and Rachel pursed her lips.

"You know about Jake and…and Paul, right?" She replied.

"If you're talking about the fact that they turn into gigantic wolves and hunt vampires on a daily basis, then yeah, I know about Jake and Paul." He said, cocking an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"Do you know anything about…" Rachel trailed off and stopped walking, "Do you know about imprinting?"

Billy's eye's widened and he drew in a quick breath. "He finally told you then?"

"You knew?" She exclaimed standing in front of him and he winced a little.

"Paul told me, the day you saw him at the beach." he explained. "But if he told you then what do you want to know?"

"I don't know, I just…I'm having a hard time getting my head around it." She said moving back behind his chair and continuing towards the beach. " I feel…things, that I wasn't expecting especially since I only met him less than a week ago. After he told me about being a wolf, when I didn't see him for a few days, I felt anxious and jittery but this morning all it took was one look from him and I was instantly calmed. I want to please him, I even asked him what his favourite pie was, it was the only one I made from scratch and I'm worried shitless that he won't like it!"

"Breath, Rachel." Billy chuckled, reaching back to pat her hand. "It's all part of the imprinting, it's purpose is to make you want him. It's a mating imperative."

"It's a mating what?" She almost shouted, coming to an abrupt halt.

Billy's eyes widened as he realised she obviously hadn't been given this particular bit of information. "It's nothing, just forget I said anything."

"Tell me!" She demanded crossing her arms.

"Together, you and Paul are a perfect match for carrying on the wolf gene, it's the reason they imprint." He explained softly.

"So he lied? He told me it was like, super love at first sight, that we were soul mates! When actually the only reason is to give him perfect puppies!" Rachel was yelling now, pacing back and forth across the path.

"He didn't lie," Billy pressed "I'm not explaining this very well. You are soul mates, you are perfect for each other in every way, like two puzzle pieces clicking together to complete a picture."

"But you said it was…" Rachel started but Billy cut her off.

"I know what I said, and I shouldn't have, imprinting is more than that. It's finding the love of your life." He said apologetically. "Would you have looked twice at Paul? Jacob's school friend, angry teenager if it wasn't for the feelings the imprinting heightened?"

"Teenager?" She asked, her eyebrows shooting up, "Oh this just keeps getting better and better!"

Billy sighed and shook his head in resignation. "I don't know if I can help you with this, you need to talk to Paul. Come on let's get to the beach, I'm sure he'll be there."

And he was.

Rachel's traitorous eye's found him as soon as her bare feet hit the sand, and it was almost as if he knew she was there, that he could feel her as his head automatically snapped up in her direction.

She felt her cheeks bloom when his eye's met hers and she forced herself to look away, grabbing at the boxes her father held and mumbling about going to put them on the food table.

"Hey!" Rachel jumped slightly at the cheery voice, and she turned to find Emily's scarred face beaming at her. "I'm so glad you came, Kim and Lee are around here somewhere but us girls need to stick together, we're completely out-numbered. How are you doing?"

Rachel frowned "You know don't you? About me and Paul?" Emily nodded.

"Sam tells me everything, no secrets." She held up her hands. "I take it your not entirely happy about it then?"

"We're you?" Rachel snapped.

"Not at first, but you'd be amazed at how convincing these guy's can be!" Emily grinned.

"But he's a kid!" Rachel exclaimed, letting her eye's drift back to Paul "I mean sure, he looks older and he's definitely…damn! But it doesn't change the fact the he's still… "

"You're twenty three, right?" Emily cut in and Rachel nodded. "He's nineteen, he'll hit twenty and January. It's what three years? It's not so bad."

"Look at them. They stopped being kids the moment they learned the truth." Emily explained quietly. "They've had no choice but to grow up faster physically and mentally. When they should have been out cliff diving and crashing college parties they were fighting off an army of vampires. Sure, Jared likes the odd prank and Embry will happily rip the shit out of you just to get a laugh but when it comes down to it? They're old well before their time." Emily squeezed her shoulder and smiled, "Just don't deny him yet okay? Now lets get these pies out."

Emily reached for the boxes and began pulling them out and setting them on the table and, right on cue, four towering wolf men bolted towards the table, immediately grabbing for them. Rachel looked in, bemused as Emily scolded them and slapped their hands away. Demanding they leave some for the others.

"What about that one?" Emily asked, pointing to the box firmly grasped in Rachel's hand.

"Yeah, no fair!" Embry piped up through a mouthful of cherry pie, "If we have to share, so do you."

"Oh!" Rachel blushed and looked from the box to where Paul was standing across the beach and back again. "It's…I…"

Emily smiled knowingly and placed a hand over hers. "They can share what they've got, you go and give it to him."

Rachel nodded timidly and walked off, looking back at Emily who gestured her forward and turned back to the table.

Paul stood talking to Seth, bottle in hand as Rachel approached. Seth smiled warmly and greeted her before making his excuses and running off.

"Should you be drinking that?" Rachel asked, pointing to the beer in his grip, her voice exuding a confidence that she wasn't feeling. "You know, being under age and all."

Paul grinned and clicked his tongue. "You found out about that huh? Don't worry I won't get drunk, I can't get drunk. Our bodies burn off the alcohol to quickly, it would probably take a keg drunk in minutes to even get me tipsy. Is that all or did you want to tell me off some more?"

Rachel sighed deeply, and nervously pushed her hair behind her ear as she eyed the box. "Here." she said holding it out to him, and he cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Just take it."

Paul reached with one hand and passed her the beer with the other, and she took a long swig as she watched him open the box and grin widely.

"Chocolate Pecan! You made it!" He chuckled. "Thanks."

"From scratch, even the pastry." She smiled nervously, pulling at the label on the bottle. "You might not even like it."

Paul stepped forward, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her face up. "If you made it, I'll love it. Thank you." He smiled down at her.

Rachel closed her eye's breaking his lock on them and stepped away from him. "Just so you know, I still don't understand what's going on. Not entirely. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You're not supposed to do anything, you just have to be. Just see what happens." Paul's voice was almost pleading.

Rachel looked around her, and spotted Emily and Sam wrapped up in each other. The intimacy of the moment had the tears that had filled her eyes, falling over and she turned back to the man in front of her.

"I leave the day after tomorrow." She almost whispered and Paul visibly tensed. "I got offered a job in Atlanta at the beginning of last week."

"You can't leave." Paul said leaning towards her, his voice low. "You can't leave me."

Rachel shook her head and wiped her cheek. "I don't know you, I met you a week ago!" She exclaimed, her voice breaking. "Do you have any idea how fucked up I feel right now? When you leave I feel it here," she pressed her hand to her chest "I feel anxious and twitchy, and I want to know where you are and what you're doing.

These are the kinds of feelings you're supposed to have about people you've known for longer than five days! This is my life, Paul and I don't want this!"

"Rachel?" Jacob ran up behind them. "What are you doing?"

"Can you look after dad? I suddenly don't feel so good." She asked quickly, not even trying to stem the tears and Jake nodded dumbly as she brushed past him and ran back up the beach.

"What did you do?" He asked rounding on Paul who shook his head.

"She's leaving me." He said trembling. "She's denying me."

* * *

In the time it had taken Rachel to run home, the warm night had deteriorated into a heavy rain.

She lay on the mattress in Jacob's old room. Ignoring Billy when he came to her door to let her know he was home, and Jake when he pleaded with her to open her door.

It had been hours since she left the beach and Paul and the emptiness that gnawed at her insides only grew worse. Her cries had turned to sobs, drowned out by the rain smacking against the roof and eventually she'd heard the rest of her family retire to bed.

She clutched her pillow to her chest, willing away the ache that had settled and then she heard it, a howl that made her heart pound.

Rachel bolted off the floor and to her window, pulling back the curtains, and standing just in view was a wolf. His grey fur almost black with rain water and his hot breath misting around him.

He grunted and turned back towards the trees and before she could stop her self, Rachel had pushed open the window.

"Paul!" She yelled and the wolf stopped and turned, watching as she walked backwards from the wide open window, looking at him.

Paul grunted and walked towards the house, stopping at the window.

"Can you come in?" Rachel asked quietly, watching as the grey fur melted away and Paul stood soaking wet in front of her.

"I don't understand." He pleaded.

"Well that makes two of us." She replied, stepping to the side and waiting for him to jump though the window.

He stood, water dripping into little puddles at his feet. Rachel handed him a small towel and busied herself with finding any clothes that Jacob had left in the drawers, finally fishing out a pair of boxers and handing them to him.

Paul smiled gratefully and hung the towel round his neck as he pulled on the boxers.

"Can you close that?" Rachel asked when he finally looked at her, pointing to the window behind him before she sat cross legged on the mattress.

"Is it supposed to hurt like this?" She whispered, and Paul sighed dropping on to the mattress next to her, letting his head fall back against the wall.

"I don't know," he shrugged "no one's ever denied my imprint before."

"You're asking me to change my whole life Paul, I can't…" She started.

"I'm not asking you to change anything, I'm asking for a chance, that's all. Don't you feel it? " He cut in, turning to face her and twisting his fingers into hers. "Since you ran all I feel is empty, it's the only way I can describe it, but now? Just sitting here with you, holding your hand? It's peace. Tell me you feel it?" Rachel nodded.

"It's not something I feel often, it's like you ground me. How the hell am I supposed to manage with you almost three thousand miles cross country?" His voice was breaking.

"Come with me?" Rachel replied. "To Atlanta."

Paul let go of her hand and tangled his finger into her hair, pulling her forehead to his, his eyes falling shut as her breath ghosted over his face. He could hear her heart beating faster against her chest, completely in sync with his own. "I would leave with you right now, if it meant I get to keep you…But I can't. Please give this a chance? There will be other jobs, I'll help you find one here just, please, give us a chance?"

The desperation in his voice sent a fresh wave of tears sailing down Rachel's face, and she leaned into him greedy for the warmth and comfort he gave her, pushing him on to his back and burying her head in his neck as she sobbed.

"Please stay for me?"


	7. Chapter 7

Five days.

That's how long it had been since Rachel had woken up wrapped in Paul's arms. It had been three days since he'd failed to convince her to stay and dropped her off at SeaTac.

Sixty-eight hours, twenty-four minutes and forty-five seconds since she'd ripped herself away from him at the gate and watched his trembling form until she couldn't see through the haze of tears anymore.

It was eight hours later when Jacob finally managed to get her on the phone and tell her that Paul hadn't come home and that the rabbit was still in the airport car park, with the keys sitting in the ignition.

Two days since she'd started her new job at the law firm and four hours since she'd quit.

It wasn't supposed to be this hard, not because of someone she'd only just met.

Rachel sandwiched the phone between her ear and shoulder, listening to the ring as she pulled her suitcase from under the bed.

"Hello?" A gruff voice spoke when the phone finally connected.

"Dad!" She exclaimed flinging open the case and running to her closet. "It's me, have you heard anything? Is Jake there"

"Calm down girly," Billy sighed " Jake and Jared are still out looking, but they can't get a read on him so he's either not phasing or he's well out of range."

"Oh my god, this is all my fault!" Rachel said, her voice breaking as she sat on the bed resting her head in her hand. "I should never have left. I should've stayed with him and he'd be home where he belongs and I wouldn't feel like my stomach is being ripped from body."

"Baby girl…" Billy started, listening to her sobs.

"I have to go, dad." She said sniffing and wiping her face. "My plane leaves in two hours and I still need to pack and get to the airport."

"Where are you going? What about work?" He asked.

"I quit. I'm coming home dad, I can't stay away from him anymore, it hurt's too much." She explained "I'll be back by tomorrow morning. I need to call a cab."

"Okay Rachel, let me know when you land." Billy said before she said her goodbye and disconnected the call to dial for a cab.

She grabbed her clothes from the closet and stuffed them in to her case, throwing her shoes on top. As she was getting her things from the bathroom the intercom buzzed. She ran to the front door and pressed the talk button, the voice of the driver informing her that he was downstairs waiting and she all but sprinted out of the apartment, only stopping to stuff her cases into the trunk and instruct the driver of her destination.

The journey to the airport was hasty and she threw her money through the window before racing in to the departure terminal.

"Passport please?" the man at the check in desk asked, not looking at her and already typing away on his computer,

Rachel handed it over, leaning against the counter as she tried to regain her breath, listening to the keys taping.

"Eleven forty flight to Seattle?" The man confirmed as she nodded and instructed her to place her bag on the conveyer belt. "You're lucky." He said, pulling her attention back to him. "Another sixty seconds and the gate would've closed. Are you okay?"

Rachel nodded. "I'm okay thank you, just anxious to get home." She smiled weakly, her eye's glistening with tears for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"Someone special waiting for you?" He pushed, turning back to his screen.

"Something like that." She replied and then thanked him as he returned her passport and boarding pass and sent her in the direction of the gate.

When she was finally seated on the plane, she let out a breath that she didn't even realise she'd been holding and let her eyes drop closed with the comforting though that she would be home soon.

Five hours and she'd be home.

And then she would have to find Paul.

* * *

At seven thirty the next morning, Rachel found herself exiting yet another cab outside her childhood home and was greeted on the porch by her father, who took one look at her and merely shook his head.

Paul still wasn't home, and no one had heard from him.

She dragged her bags in to her room and found that the bed had been fixed. Throwing herself down on to it she buried her head and the pillow and drew in a deep breath. Even after almost a week, the musty cinnamon scent that belonged to Paul was ingrained in the down of the pillow and it swirled around her, her chest heaving with dry sobs, the last bit of her strength slipping from her body.

"Rachel!" Her head shot up at the sound of her fathers voice. "They found him, he phased and they tracked him. He's up in the Cascades."

"Is he coming back?" She squeaked.

"He's already on his way. He turned back the second Jake told him you were on your way home."

* * *

Paul stood in the middle of the airport lobby, watching helplessly as Rachel walked away from him. He watched until he couldn't see her anymore, but he could hear the sobs.

He could tell she didn't want to leave so why the hell was she going?

Because she needed too. That's what she'd told him when he asked her one last time this morning, when she woke up with her limbs entwined with his and found him watching her intently.

And she'd asked him again to come with her, telling him that her newly rented apartment was big enough for the two of them to manage in.

But he couldn't. Sam had caught him thinking about the first time she'd asked him and felt his resolve slipping and forbade him from going to Atlanta. There was too much that needed to be done and they were still waiting for Bella to return from her honeymoon and find out whether the treaty had been violated.

He could feel his body convulsing as the wolf inside him literally clawed at his broken interior, raging at him to let loose and go after her. To drag her back kicking and screaming if he had to.

A growl rumbled in his throat and he turned and ran, ignoring the looks from shocked travellers as her barrelled through them, jumping over stacked luggage trolleys and narrowly missing a cart being driven by airport security.

Paul found the car and yanked the door open, willing his body to stay whole as the car rumbled into life. He breathed deeply, trying and failing to calm his raging spirit.

"Fuck!" He screamed, smacking his fist against the steering wheel and finally unleashing a tirade of expletives and pummelling every surface within reach, jumping back out of the car and kicking the door shut with such force that it buckled as it closed and he sank to his knees.

"Dude?" A voice called nervously from behind him and he turned to find a rather large but shocked looking man. "Are you alright?"

Paul stood and growled through his clenched teeth and the man backed away as he ran straight past him, through the parking lot and on to the road.

And he kept running.

His chest burned with exertion, but he kept moving along the side of the road ignoring the beeps from angered drivers and still fighting the urge to dissolve into his wolf. If he did that, the rest of the pack would hear him, they would find and he didn't want to go home.

She was his home.

As soon as he found tree cover he dove into it, branches whipping against his skin and leaving small welts that were gone almost as soon as they appeared and brambles that tore into his t-shirt leaving it tattered.

After what seemed like hours he finally allowed himself to slow to a stop at the edge of a small lake, the cooling air flowing over his skin and wetness seeping through his shorts as he sat against a tree with his head on his knees.

They'd miss him soon if they weren't already. He'd already been gone over half the day and darkness was coming.

Would Jacob tell her that he'd gone? Would she even care?

Paul scoffed at his thought, willing himself not to care anymore. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

* * *

His stomach rumbled angrily, and he growled spitting a pit from his mouth. Two and half days of nothing but berries were beginning to take there toll on Paul, especially considering he hadn't gone a day since he phased without at least two of Emily's mammoth meals passing his lips.

He stood up, brushing the dirt and twigs from the back of his shorts and to another glance around his surroundings. He'd found a small river nearby that contained Salmon and maybe if he could catch one he'd could cook it.

Paul toed of his sneakers and slid his shorts off, wading knee deep into the water. He stood watching the fish swim around him getting closer and closer and he dove forward grasping at one, growling and sputtering when he gripped empty water and the momentum sent him sprawling.

He stood, sputtering and shaking letting out an almost ear splitting howl as his skin disintegrated from his body.

"_Paul!" _Jared's voice broke through as soon as he'd phased, _"Fuck man! What the hell do you think you're doing?"_

"_Get out of my head Jere, this is nothing to do with you!" _He growled, leaping from the water and running further into the trees

"_Come on Paul, I know it's hard but…" _Jared sighed.

"_No you don't, you have no idea what I feel!" _Paul snapped "_Kim's been planning your wedding since freshman year, she already wanted you regardless of the imprint, she didn't deny you or fly halfway across the country. So don't you try to tell me you know how I feel!"_

"_Sorry, dude_." Jared replied and his thoughts quietened.

"_Paul?" _Jacobs voice appeared. "_You need to come home_."

"_Like hell I do_!" Paul scoffed.

"_No listen_," he exclaimed. "_Rachel called my dad last night. She's on a plane, she's coming home."_

Paul skidded to a stop and rounded immediately. "_She is? For how long_?"

"_She quit her job and left the keys to her apartment_." Jacob explained. "_I don't think she's planning on leaving for a while."_

"_When does she get here_?" He asked, speeding up.

"_Her plane lands in three hours, she'll be home by the morning_." Jacob said, "_And don't think I didn't notice what you did to my car, you're paying for that shit!"_

* * *

Rachel paced the porch, her fingernails bitten down to the bed.

"Rachel, honey. Why don't you come in side, have a drink and maybe sit down for five minutes." Billy asked from the door. "Walking back and forth like isn't going to make him get here any faster."

"You think he'll hate me?" She said stopping suddenly and turning to him. "I mean I wasn't denying him when I went to Atlanta, I needed to go, I needed to do it for myself…At least I think I did?"

"I don't think he could hate you even if he wanted to." Billy shrugged.

"He should." She sighed, rubbing her brow.

"I don't hate you." Rachel whipped round to find Paul standing a few feet away, his shoulders slumped and exhaustion clouding his face.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, running straight for him, the force of her body as he caught her almost knocking him down. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay." He whispered, nuzzling her hair and clutching her tighter.

"No, no it's not okay!" She leaned back and wiped the tears from her face. "I know you didn't chose this, and I shouldn't have blamed you for it."

"I'm not gonna pretend it didn't hurt. Being more than two feet from you is hard!" He chuckled humourlessly, clutching her face between his hands. "But you came back and right now that's all I can think about. Just please, don't leave me again?"

Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I could even if I wanted too."

"Then it's okay." He smiled. "Okay?" She nodded and smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey, if we leave now we'll make it to Sam and Emily's for breakfast?" Jared said slapping Paul's arm to pull his attention back.

Rachel's eyebrows went up "I can cook for you!" She exclaimed and then blushed. "I mean, I'm probably not up to Emily's standards but, it's usually edible."

"That'd be great!" Jared smiled walking towards the house, but Billy held his hand up stopping him.

"Let's just give them some time together, okay?" He whispered and Jared nodded. "Jake! You think Emily's got room for me at her table?"

"Sure dad." He replied running up behind his chair and pushing him away from the house with Jared next to him.

"You can go with them if you want?" Rachel said looking at her feet.

"I'd rather not if that's okay with you." Paul said ducking his head down to meet her eyes. "Can we just go inside? Just to talk." And just then his stomach growled.

"And maybe food wouldn't be such a bad idea!" He chuckled, twisting his fingers into hers and pulling her into the house.

"I'm not sure what we've got; I haven't had time to go to the store yet." Rachel said when they reached the small kitchen and she began busying herself in the cupboards. "I should have gone while I was waiting for you instead of pacing a damn rut in the floor! I'll go now." She grabbed her purse and turned to the door, only for Paul to grab her shoulders and block her exit.

"Slow down!" He exclaimed. "I don't want fine dining you don't have to run around for me."

"I'm sorry; I guess I'm just nervous." She said placing a hand on her hip and rubbing her forehead.

"I noticed." Paul smiled. "Your hearts beating a mile a minute."

"You can hear that?" Rachel asked looking slightly taken aback.

He nodded "I could still hear it if I went all the way outside. It's a…"

"Wolf thing?" Rachel cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "That seems to the explanation for a lot of things around here. So what else is there? Apart from the healing and hearing…and the imprinting of course."

"Actually imprinting was supposed to be rare." Paul explained watching as Rachel delved through the contents of the fridge and pulled out a packet of sausages. "We thought it would start and end with Sam and Emily."

"Really? So who else?" She asked sticking a pan on the hob and tossing the sausages in.

"Jared and his girlfriend Kim and us…So far." He shrugged. "When we all started to phase Jared and Embry were the youngest and they were still at school. Embry dropped out but Jared's mom made him go back and on his first day he sat next to this girl that he'd seen everyday since they started high school. She dropped her pen and he caught it and the next thing you know… "

"That's kinda sweet!" Rachel said scrunching her nose.

"You have no idea! Apparently she was in love with him for years; she even scrawled his name over all her notebooks." Paul chuckled. "It was kinda weird actually."

"Well maybe she knew." Rachel smiled. "That they were supposed to be together. Now, what else?"

"Okay, well apart from what you've already mentioned, what we are in human form is basically a watered down version of what we are in wolf form, just less hair." He grinned "We have hyper sensitive hearing, smell and we're fast but it's no where near as powerful as when we're phased. We're hot too."

Rachel scoffed "Excuse me?"

"No seriously, you didn't notice?" Paul cocked an eye brow and grabbed her hand, placing it on his chest. "Our body temperature runs at about one oh eight and we have a really fast metabolism which is why we eat so much to keep our energy up."

"Wow." Rachel breathed glancing between where her hand lay on his chest and his face.

"There is one other thing." He said softly. "We don't age until we stop phasing."

"You won't age?" Rachel gasped, her fingers curling against his skin. "When will you stop phasing? How long does it take?"

"Whenever I choose to stop and then after a while the wolf gene will go dormant and I'll start to grow older at a normal rate." He explained.

"How will you decide?" She asked quietly.

"I'll decide when you tell me." Paul placed his large hand over where hers still rested on his skin and put his finger under her chin, lifting her face to look at him. "You need to understand, that as much as the wolf is my job, my obligation? You are my world. Without you there is nothing left for me so as you get older I'll get older with you."

"But you know nothing about me." Rachel said quietly. "How do you know I'm what you really want?"

"Because I wouldn't have imprinted if you weren't, and Rachel?" He smiled down at her. "The foods burning."

"Oh shit, sorry!" She yelped running around him to the stove and grabbing handle of the pan. "Ouch!"

"What? What did you do?" Paul was immediately at her side inspecting her hand.

"The handle was hot!" She breathed, wincing when he pulled at her hand.

"Here." he said pulling her to the sink and turning on the tap. "It doesn't look bad; just keep it under here for a few minutes."

"I burnt your food." Rachel sniffed. "How can I be good for you if I can't even cook your dinner without burning it?"

"Hey stop that," Paul demanded, turning her to face him. "You are everything, it doesn't matter if we have to order take out for the rest of our lives it doesn't stop you from being the person I need or want."

"You really want me?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"In any way I can have you." He admitted.

"I…I" She stammered, her mouth opening and closing as she looked up at him. Her brow furrowed and she nodded, raising to her tip toes and pressing her lips against his before stepping back to gauge his reaction.

And it was Paul's turn to look confused as she backed away, chewing her lip and flushing red.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head "that was probably way over stepping the mark. I won't…"

Her words were stopped as his hand found the back of her head and pulled her mouth back to his with an almost painful force. She sighed into the kiss, the tension of the past few days blew out around them and her shoulders relaxed as she brought her arms up and around his neck.

Paul nipped softly on her bottom lip and her mouth fell open to his tongue, working it slowly against hers as his grip on her tightened, pulling her body flush against his.

"Don't apologize for that." He said pulling back to rest his head on hers. "Never apologize for that!"

"Sorry!" She squeaked and Paul chuckled and shook his head. "I'll see if there's enough stuff for sandwiches."

"Actually, I've changed my mind." he sighed, pulling her back to his side. "There's something I'd much rather do."

"Oh," Rachel stepped back to look at him, her cheeks tinged pink. "What…what's that exactly?"

"I would really like to sleep!" He exclaimed smirking at the huge breath she let out. "I've spent the past few nights on a mountain side and it doesn't make for comfortable sleeping, not that I was sleeping well to begin with."

"Me either." She shook her head and picked at her fingers, looking up at him through her lashes. "Come on."

Paul took her offered hand and let her lead him through the house to her small bedroom. He closed the door behind him and watched stiffly as she toed off her shoes and pulled off her jeans before slipping under the covers of her twin bed.

"You sure?" He asked his voice slightly higher than normal.

"It's just sleep Paul." Rachel sighed; sleep already threatening to take her. She pulled back the covers and scooted against the wall, patting the empty space next to her.

He nodded and sat softly on the mattress, shifting down until his feet hung off the end and his head hit the pillow. Rachel immediately curled into him, her head on chest, hand on his stomach and her leg folded over his.

"I think I could get used to this." She mumbled, as his fingers found her hair, and combed through it gently coaxing her eyes closed.

"I already have." He yawned.

* * *

"Paul?" He growled as something nudged his arm.

"Paul wake up!" It nudged him again and his eyes shot open, and it took a moment for him to remember where he was. The sunlight that had filled the room when he fell asleep had been replaced by darkness save for a small slither of moonlight.

"Paul, I need to pee and I'm stuck under your legs!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry!" He moved quickly, disentangling himself and sitting up.

"I'll be right back." She smiled darting from the room. Paul scrubbed his hands over his face, and glanced at the small clock on her dresser. Nine forty five. There was a knock at the bedroom door and he frowned. "Uh, come in."

The door opened slightly and Jacob poked his head through the gap. "Hey, I just came to let you know that Sam's given you tonight and during the day off, but we need you tomorrow night." He swallowed and shifted nervously. "Bella's due home from her honeymoon tomorrow and we'll need to find if…whether she's."

"Sure." Paul nodded, hearing his unspoken words. "Thanks brother."

Jacob growled. "We're not brother's!" He exclaimed, all but slamming the door, and Paul smirked and laid back down on the bed. He closed his eyes and buried his face the pillow, breathing in Rachel's scent.

"Replaced me already?" Paul whipped his head round to find Rachel kneeling next to the bed, grinning at him.

"I could never replace you!" He exclaimed grabbing her and pulling her up onto the bed with a little squeal, pushing his nose into the crook of her neck. "You're the only one for me."

"Good," She giggled as his breath tickled her neck. "Because I'm not entirely sure I'd be happy about it."

"Tell me about yourself." She murmured, turning her face so that her cheek rested against his. "I want to know everything."

"Everything?" Paul asked surprise evident in his voice and Rachel nodded.

"I feel like I should know everything." She scrunched up her face. "Is that weird?"

"No, it's not weird." He pushed her away from his body and onto her back, rolling onto his side to look down at her. "I want to know things about you too. Where should I start?"

"Well Emily said that you're nineteen, when's your birthday?" She ran her fingers up his arm.

"January ninth." Paul answered "And yours is December thirtieth."

"How do you know that?" Her eyes shot to his and he chuckled.

"Jake's thoughts aren't exactly quiet. He's been pissing about having to buy two extra present so close to Christmas!" He shrugged.

"I feel at a disadvantage here!" Rachel cocked her eyebrow. "You can just listen to Jake's thoughts and know everything, and I have nothing!"

"I don't know that much, he spent way to long pining over that leech lover to find time to think about anything else!" Paul scoffed.

"You mean Bella? The friend that got married?" She frowned and Paul nodded. "She married a vampire?"

"They're on their honeymoon until tomorrow and she wants to be changed." He pulled her closer. "They're not like other vampires, they feed off animals not humans, but still- it doesn't change how un-natural they are."

"I can't believe she…" Rachel started but Paul cut her off.

"Do you mind if we don't talk about the Cullen's?" He edged, his arms trembling. "Tomorrow we find out if Bella's still human and subsequently if we have a fight on our hands. I'd much rather spend the time talking about you."

Rachel look taken a back. "You'll have to fight the vampires?"

"It's why I exist." He said softly. "But I'd like to forget that…just for tonight. Please?"

"Sure." Rachel nuzzled his cheek and felt his body finally relax. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't, it's a natural reaction." Paul smiled. "Now where were we?"

"Birthdays." She answered. "But can I ask you something? It's about something my dad said."

"Sure." He nodded. "Should I be worried?"

"Depends on your answer." She grinned. "He said something about imprinting being a mating imperative. Is that true?"

Paul sighed and pulled back to look at her. "Sam thinks it might be the reason we imprint, but it's not for certain. Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know what I was getting myself into. I've never really thought about having my own family before, have you?"

"Honestly, no." He shook his head. "I never had a reason too…until now, but we're no where near that yet!"

"Well what about imprinting making you want to…_be _with a person more?" Rachel sucked her lip into her mouth.

"Well you know about that, you saw what happened when you left. It hurts to be apart for any length of time with no contact." Paul replied but Rachel shook her head.

"That's not what I meant." She blushed and dipped her head. "When I'm near you it's not enough. I want to touch you, kiss you and just the thought of being so close to you does things to me. I've never felt like this about anyone before, and my ex wasn't…"

The rest of her words were swallowed as Paul's mouth crashed into hers, his hands threading into her hair. He rolled his body over hers, her legs automatically locking around his hips as he ground against her.

"Does that answer your question?" He growled, attacking her jaw and throat and she whimpered and nodded. "And for the record, I don't want to know about your ex…as far as I'm concerned it's me and only me."

"Only you!" She breathed. "Always."


	9. Chapter 9

_"Only You."_

_"Always."_

Those three simple words that slipped from Rachel's mouth were the best three words Paul had ever heard. She was his; no one else's…forever.

Everything that he'd bottled up over the past few weeks came bubbling to the surface, the rage, the want, the rejection and the sheer ecstasy of finally being accepted and where he wanted to be.

His attack on her mouth became almost wild, as the need to claim her completely, threatened to take over.

"Paul, please…" Rachel breathed, tilting her head back to free her lips, "I need a moment to breathe!"

"I'm sorry," He whispered, dropping his head to her shoulder and closing his eyes as his chest heaved against hers. "I'm sorry baby; I don't know what came over me? I just…"

"Shhh, its fine." Her fingers found the back of his neck and worked their way down between his shoulder blades, the muscles tensing and releasing under her touch.

Paul's hand squeezed the back of her thigh and he sighed pushing himself up and away from her body.

"Where are you going?" She frowned cupping his face in both her hands.

"I was just gonna go run for a while." He explained softly, dropping one foot to the floor. "Take a minute to calm down."

"Oh," Rachel murmured bring her hands down and pulling them around herself "okay."

"I won't be long." He said turning towards the window.

She followed, tugging her t shirt down and watching him as he unlatched the bottom half of the window and pushed it open, slipping silently out without even looking back at her.

"I thought you said you wanted me?" She blurted out just before he disappeared round the back of the house and Paul looked back at her with a pained look on his face. "Did I do something wrong?"

"What?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting together in a tight frown as he leant back through the window. "Why would you ask that?"

"Why else would you be leaving?" She stared down at him tearily.

"Because…" Paul threw a quick glance behind him and towards the tree line, seeing or hearing something she didn't and hopped back up through the window, shutting it hard enough for the glass to shudder in its frame and pulling the thin curtains across it. "Because I'm having a hard time controlling myself around you at the minute. If you hadn't had stopped me I would've…"

"You would've what?" Rachel pushed as he trailed off. "Phased? Hurt me?-what?"

"Fucked you!" He growled, his eyes firmly planted on the floor and his jaw clenched tight as Rachel gasped. "Everything about me is telling me to claim you in everyway possible right now, and I can't do that, not to you, not after everything…" He shook his head "I should never have pushed myself on you like that."

Rachel swallowed hard and stepped towards his rigid form. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was me that asked you about …"

"Yeah, you asked me a question about the imprinting, Rach!" He said throwing his hands up. "You didn't tell me to climb on top of you and fuck you!"

"Would it help if I did?" Rachel yelled and Paul growled.

"You can't say stuff like that to me right now." He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his fists.

"Will you please look at me?" She exclaimed gripping his wrist, willing him to open his eyes. "You really think you're the only one who feels the need to stake a claim? Do you not remember how willing I was to claw random girl's eyes out last week just for looking at you? I'm not going to assume that you've never been with other girls, but it's just as hard for me to think about your past as it is for you to think about mine."

"They could never compare to you." Paul breathed, his shoulders rising and falling heavily.

"And my ex could never compare to you. I was ruined for anyone else the moment you found me on the beach; I just didn't know it yet." The hand that gripped his wrist pulled him toward her and placed his hand on her chest over her hammering heart. "I know you can hear it, but feel it, that's all you. Everything about you makes my heart beat so fast! The way you smell, the way your skin feels under my fingers."

Rachel leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. "The way you taste and the way you look at me. You said that you want me? Well I want you just as much!"

"I didn't want it to be like this!" He ground out, gripping her hips. "You deserve better than this, better than what I can give you."

"I was under the impression that you were perfect for me." She whispered closing the final distance between their bodies and running her hands up his arms and around his neck.

"No. You're perfect for me." Paul replied softly, shuddering as her nose trailed from his shoulder to the centre of his chest. "I can promise to try and be everything you want and need and to give you everything you desire, but you will always be the one who's perfect for me."

"Well right now what I want, what I need? Is you Paul." Her lips found his and he sighed against them, his resolve seemingly gone as his hands enveloped her waist and lifted her from the ground. Her legs curled up and wrapped around him as his tongue flicked against her bottom lip, seeking entry which she greedily granted.

She pulled back from his mouth, reaching for the hem of her shirt and pulling it up and over her head, leaving her clad in only her pale pink underwear set.

Paul walked her back, pressing her against the wall, his hand wrapped gently round the base of her neck and he carved a burning trail down the centre of her chest. She threw her head back and drew in a ragged breath when his tongue followed the path of his hand, nipping and sucking along the way.

He swallowed her breathless moan when he pushed his clothed erection against her, pinning her, his fingertips teasing her rapidly heating skin until they reached the curve of her butt and squeezed, her hips rolling against his for a second time.

His lips and nose trace the line of her bra, his shuddering breath causing her to break out in goose pimples and her nipples to harden almost painfully.

Rachel didn't register his other hand until she felt a sharp tug at the clasp of her bra and felt it go lax. She wiggled her shoulders, letting the straps slip down until the fabric barely clung to her body.

Paul's eyes flicked to hers and she nodded, letting him pull it off and dump it on the floor behind them.

She felt a growl vibrate through his chest and couldn't help the sudden rush of arousal that she felt at the sound. His almost black eye's found hers and his nostrils flared.

"Wh…what?" She breathed nervously.

"I can smell you." He whispered and she blushed and buried her face in his shoulder.

Paul turned his head and nuzzled her face. "Never hide from me. Never be ashamed of what you feel for me or because of me. I love knowing what I do to you." One hand cupped her breast, her hardened nipple scratching against the skin on his palm and she blew out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "Your heart beat, the sounds you make, the way your whole body shudders when you look at me."

Rachel gasped as she felt the hand on her butt move and his fingers slipped under her panties, finding her folds and probing at the slick heat. "Knowing that's it me that does this to you."

"Only you." She breathed the words from earlier her fingers tugging his hair and bringing his mouth back to hers.

He pulled his hands from her body and let her feet slip to the floor. His lips left hers and dragged along her jaw and she tipped her head back opening up her throat up to his mouth.

"You taste amazing." Paul breathed, his thumbs teasing the band of her underwear as he nipped, licked and sucked his way down her body.

His tongue swirled the sensitive bud of her nipples, and her fingers tugged and scratched at his hair as she warred internally with wanting his lips back on hers and needing his mouth lower.

"Please Paul, please!" She begged, not entirely sure what she was asking for and arching into his mouth.

"What do you want baby? Tell me what you want." Paul's voice was muffled against the skin of her stomach as he sank to his knees.

"More, anything!" Rachel sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, biting back the whimper that threatened to escape as he peeled her underwear down her legs and threw it somewhere behind him.

He gripped her leg and pulled it over his shoulder, opening her up to him and he breathed deeply. "Is this what you had in mind?" He ground out, and Rachel shuddered as his breath hit her heated core.

"Oh my…Paul!" Her eyes fluttered closed at the touch of his thumb on her clit, his fingers easing back through the wetness and teasing in and out.

"God baby you're so wet." Paul slipped a finger all the way inside her slick heat and flicked his wrist, hitting a spot that made her mewl and buck into his face, his tongue replacing his thumb and sucking the sensitive bundle of nerves between his lips.

Rachel's head thumped back against the wall, one hand leaving Paul's hair to thread through her own as a familiar fire began to build all too quickly in the pit of her stomach, increasing with every flick of his tongue and twist of his finger.

"I can't…baby I can't hold!" She whimpered, squeezing her eyes tight.

Paul pulled his mouth from her "Rachel? Look at me baby." He commanded, waiting for her to comply and her eyes met his with a shudder. "Don't hold back, let it go."

His finger slipped from her heat only to be replaced by two, and Rachel's eye's began to close again. "No, look at me I want to see you! Cum for me baby."

"Paul…" Rachel warned, forcing her eyes to meet his as his tongue darted back to her sex, and her hips twitched. "Oh God!"

Paul's hand flew to her hip holding her up against the wall as she rode out her orgasm, her walls clenching around his fingers.

"Shit!" She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, and Paul slowly guided her shaking body to the ground.

"You okay?" He whispered, pulling her into his lap.

"I can't feel my legs!" She breathed and chuckled. "That was…"

Paul grinned and kissed her hard, moaning as her tongue snaked its way into his mouth. He flinched when he felt her fingers on the waistband of his jeans. "Baby you don't…I can…"

"But I want too." She kissed his jaw and popped the button, the strained zipper slipping down with ease and Paul sighed at the release of the pressure. "I told you, I want you…all of you."

He shifted her from his lap, leaning his body over hers as she worked at pushing the cut offs from his body, hissing when his cock bounced free against his stomach.

Her hand snaked between them, gripping his hard shaft and pumping. "I'm too hard; I'm not gonna last long if you keep that up." Paul whimpered pushing into her hand.

Rachel drew her legs up round his waist, pulling him into the cradle of her hips.

"Rach, wait I don't have a condom." Paul exclaimed pulling back on to his knees, a pained look on his face.

"I'm covered and I'm clean. Are you?" She asked, cupping his jaw and he nodded.

"Always been careful." He sighed as she pulled him back down, his mouth moulding against hers and his hands tickling down her sides.

"Are you ready baby?" He asked nipping at her lips and rocking his cock against her centre.

"Don't tease Paul." She growled, lifting her hips to meet his thrust, his tip pressing at her entrance. Paul gripped her knee, pushing it towards her body and slowly seating himself to the hilt with a shiver. "Oh shit, just…just give a minute." Rachel gasped her back arching towards him as she adjusted to his size.

"I'm sorry," Paul squeezed his eyes shut as he stilled and dropped his head to her chest "you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She breathed, dragging her fingernails across his back making him twitch against her. "It's been a while and like I said earlier you don't compare too…"

A sharp bite at her nipple had her yelping before he pulled out and pushed back in with a bit more force. "Mine!" He growled and all gentleness pushed aside as his hips ground brutally against her clit leaving her keening underneath him.

The heels of her feet dug into the flesh of his ass and her fingernails gouged crescent shapes in his skin that disappeared as soon as they were made as his movements picked up speed.

The air in the room was palpable, gasps and moans slipping through languid lips as Paul rocked in and out, bringing Rachel closer and closer.

"I need…" Rachel cried pushing her hips to meet his thrusts. "More please Paul!"

Paul grunted, flipping them over so that she was straddling him, his hands clamped at her hips as she slid up and down his shaft and a string of expletives tumbling from her mouth when the change in angle had him hitting her g-spot with every roll.

"Holy shit!" He growled, lifting his hips to hers, his thumb slipping to where they were connected and brushing over her clit. "You feel too good baby."

"Just a bit more!" Rachel threw her head back in a soundless scream as he pinched down on her throbbing nub and sent her tumbling into release, dragging him pulsing and twitching behind her.

She fell limply on top of him, his arms automatically enveloping her and keeping her against his chest.

"You're perfect, you know that right?" He breathed twisting his hands into her hair and pulling her face up to his, peppering it with kisses.

"Jeez Paul! That was…" She dropped her forehead to his shoulder and a chuckle shook her body. "Maybe you should have done that last week and we could've saved ourselves all that trouble."

Paul chuckled and blew out one large breath, "So sex is your weakness? I'll have to remember that for future reference."

"No, sex with you is my weakness." Rachel giggled. "Apparently."

"Well you're my weakness." He squeezed her one last time before disentangling himself from her and pushing himself from the floor, reaching down to pull her up after him. "Why don't we get cleaned up and then find some food? I really am starving right now."

"Sounds good." Rachel nodded, glancing around the floor for her shirt as Paul headed towards the door. "Paul! You can't go out there like that, my dad will see you and he'll know…Oh god! My dad will know I have sex!"

"Rachel relax." Paul's chest shook with laughter. "The house is quiet. It's been quiet since Jake left, so I'm pretty sure no one's home. Come on."

Paul opened the door and held his hand out, leading her down the hall to the bathroom.

"Can I at least get a towel?" Rachel exclaimed, trying to shield her modesty with her hands.

"Now your self conscious?" Paul cocked an eyebrow and Rachel screeched as he scooped her up and darted into the bathroom, depositing her in the walk in shower and turning the taps.

"Shit Paul, that's cold!" She shuddered and stepped out from under the spray and slapped his arm. "You ass!"

Paul smirked and stepped towards her, forcing her back against the tiled wall as he pressed the length of his body against hers and she swallowed hard under his gaze.

"What are you doing?" She frowned, as he brought one arm up beside her head and the other hand on her waist.

Paul grinned down at her, trailing his fingers over her newly damp skin, and pressing his hardening erection into her stomach.

"I'm using your weakness to my advantage."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry the update took so long, I've been a little distracted by some other things! Hopefully it's worth the wait?**

* * *

"Is Rachel here now?" Jacob asked and Paul grinned, shoving the bag of chips between his back and the couch, nodding in the direction of the bathroom and Jake cocked his head, listening to the sound of the shower.

He turned back towards Paul, his attention drawn to the scrap of pink cotton poking from his shorts pocket and he frowned. "What the hell is that?"

Paul's grin turned into a knowing smirk and he cocked an eyebrow. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." He said pushing the panties deeper into the pocket.

Jacob growled and lunged, his fist connecting with Paul's nose with a rewarding crack, quickly jumping out of reach when Paul made a one handed grab for him, the other clutched to his face.

"Fuck!" He pulled his hand from his nose, smearing the blood down the front of his shirt as Jacob snatched up the chips and stashed them back in the kitchen cupboard. "You're fast kid, I'll give you that!" He winced as he twisted his nose back into place.

"You're two years older than me Paul, that doesn't give you the right to call me kid." Jacob said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the kitchen table.

"Didn't you once tell Bella Swan that your size and knowledge base makes you older than you actually are? Because by your reckoning, the fact that I'm banging your older sister gives me decades on you!" Paul guffawed as Jake lunged towards him again, quickly jumping up and out his way.

"Talk about my sister like that again and I'll rip your throat out!" Jacob growled.

"Ah, ah" Paul wagged his finger and pointed towards the bathroom, the sound of water had stopped and they could here Rachel moving about. "We're supposed to be getting along, it's bad enough you broke my nose but think about the beating you'll get if you try to kill me?"

"Trust you to go running to my sister!" He ground out.

"Hey, I'm no tattle…not this time at least." Paul smirked. "This one's just between us, next time you wont be so lucky!"

Jacob cocked an eyebrow and gave him the finger, raising it to his lip. "You got something…" He gestured and walked away as Paul chuckled, whipping his bloodied shirt over his head and wiping his face before stuffing it down the side of the couch.

"Hey Paul?" Rachel called walking down the hallway, towel wrapped around her head and washing basket in her hand.

"Yeah babe?" He smiled turning to face her.

"Uh, I was just going to put a wash on and I can't…" She trailed off and blushed under his gaze, her voice lowering to barely a whisper. "Do you know where you threw my underwear? I can't find them?"

Paul stood from the couch and walked towards her, taking the basket from her arms and stuffing his hand into his pocket, fingering the material of her panties. "No. Sorry baby, I was a little…distracted." He shrugged, she blushed deeper and he could hear Jacob growl from his room. "I'm sure they'll turn up sooner or later…Hey! You mind if I throw my shirt in here? I spilt a Big Red on it."

"Sure!" She nodded. "I didn't know we had any of those?"

"Oh no, Jake bought me one." He shrugged grabbing his shirt and burying it under the rest of the clothes. "You know, we're really getting along a lot better now! He's like the little brother I never had and I think he kinda looks up to me!"

Rachel chuckled and patted his arm. "Whatever you say, sweetie. Come on." She said heading for the utility room, Paul chuckling quietly behind her as a muffled "_get out of my house!_"came from Jacobs' room.

He looked on appreciatively as Rachel leaned over the washer, reaching up to grab the detergent from the shelf and exposing a small slither of skin at the small of her back, his tongue flicking out to moisten his lower lip.

Rachel turned towards him and wordlessly grabbed the basket, stuffing the clothes into the drum and slamming it shut. She flicked a dial and it hissed into life, before pulling the damp towel from her head and hanging it on an drying rack.

Paul stepped up behind her, his fingers tugging at her wet hair, exposing the column of her neck as his other hand snaked around her waist, fingers splayed over her stomach.

"Paul?" She murmured, as his lips trailed from her shoulder to her ear. "What are you up too?"

"Hmmm," he sighed gripping her hips and turning her to face him, backing her up "there's something I've always wanted to try."

A surprised yelp escaped Rachel's lips as she was lifted from the floor and placed on the top of the washer, Paul taking his place between her legs, his hands running the length of her thigh, toying momentarily with the waistband of her jeans and slipping under her vest.

"Again? Babe seriously, I think I'm in danger of friction burns if we go anymore today!" Her eye's widened slightly, as he pulled her hips forward against his growing arousal, causing a rush of her own. "Nn…not that I don't want to or anything!" She squeaked as his sucked on the skin at the curve of her neck.

Paul pulled back, his eye's mischievous and dark as he reached behind her and flicked the dial from wash to spin and Rachel jumped. "It'll be totally worth it." He grinned as she wiggled on the spot.

His mouth returned to her skin, hands running tauntingly slow up the expanse of her back as she gave herself over to him, eyes rolling back in her head. Her hands trailed blindly over his torso, fingering the small trail of hair that led from his naval and disappeared under his waistband and flicking the button.

Paul groaned and his head dropped to her shoulder. "You've gotta be kidding me!" He growled, as Rachel paused, hands halfway inside his pants and her eyebrows knitted together.

"What?" She asked breathlessly as he grabbed her wrist and tugged hand away.

"Sam." He sighed just before another howl ripped through the air, loud enough for her to hear this time.

"But, you don't have to patrol for at least a couple more hours!" Rachel exclaimed and Paul nodded.

"I know, but that was an emergency call. He wants the whole pack there." He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers one more time. "Stay right there, I'll be back as soon as I can…don't move!"

A grin split across her face and she stared up at him through her lashes, wiggling her butt on the vibrating appliance. "Oh I have no intention of moving from here until I'm done!" She cocked an eyebrow and Paul growled taking a step towards, cursing loudly when another howl stopped him in his tracks.

His eyes never left her face as he yanked the zipper of his shorts down and let them drop to the floor, Rachel's cheeks tingeing pink as her eyes roamed perversely over his naked form. "May as well give you a visual to work with." He smirked, throwing his shorts at her and darting across the hall and out of her bedroom window.

Rachel sucked in a shuddering breath and slipped from the washer, Paul's discarded shorts slipping to the floor. She knelt down to retrieve them her mouth falling open as the contents of his pocket fell at her feet. "My panties! You pervert!"

* * *

Paul sighed, arching his back and popping his shoulders as he settled back on to two feet again. He wondered along the tree line, searching for the emergency clothes he'd stashed in the trees surrounding the Black's home, pulling the knotted plastic bag from it's place on a branch a ripping it to get to the pants inside.

It hadn't exactly been a long day but it had certainly felt like one. He'd phased back once after Jake had been to the Cullen's, letting Rachel and Billy know he was still in one piece and that the treaty was still in tact and then shifted back to join the pack, instantly wishing he hadn't when he heard what Jacob had to say.

That little nugget of information had made him physically sick - he could still taste the bile on his tongue.

He padded silently around the house, not surprised to find it in darkness, it was nearing three a.m. but he was surprised to find Billy sitting on the porch.

"Rachel's asleep." He said gruffly, his eye's never leaving the trees.

"Yeah I guessed she would be." Paul nodded and shuffled. "I just wanted to check on her, make sure she was okay."

"I understand." Billy turned to face him. "Anymore news on Jake?"

Paul sighed and scratched at the back of his neck nervously. "He's gone, he split from the pack."

"He what?" Billy leaned forward against the porch railing. "How?"

"Pulled his rank." Paul shrugged. "Sam gave a command he didn't particularly like and I guess he finally decided to channel his Alpha."

"He challenged Sam?" He asked and Paul shook his head.

"No, he made it pretty clear he didn't want to be head of the pack, he just didn't want to be a part of it anymore and we can't hear him anymore." He swallowed "I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't have done the same if I was in his place, I mean it goes against everything we stand for but Sam…"

"What are you talking about?" Billy asked cutting him off mid ramble. "What goes against everything you stand for?"

"Killing another human." Paul mumbled, glancing up at Billy's face and registering the shock that passed through his tired eye's. "Bella isn't sick, she's knocked up - with the leeches kid or spawn or whatever you want to call it…We can't let it be born."

"That's impossible!" Billy exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Paul snorted humorlessly "I thought that about Werewolves and Vampires and look where it got me!"

"What are Sam's plans?" Billy asked, frowning.

"Listen, the last thing I want to do is disrespect you but I _really_ don't want to talk about this anymore…I've had nothing but _that _in my head for the past four hours and all I want to do right now is check on Rach and go home and sleep." He blew out a breath. "Sam's wants to meet with you and the other elders in the morning anyway, you'll find everything out then."

Billy nodded and pursed his lips. "Where did Jake go?"

Paul cocked an eyebrow. "Take a wild guess."

"Alone?" He blanched. "What the hell was he thinking?"

"He's not alone." Paul offered. "Seth went after him…We can't hear him either."

Billy gritted his teeth and ran a hand down his face before turning back to Paul. "Help me back inside? I don't think I have it left in me to move anymore tonight."

Paul's eyes widened minutely at the request but he nodded and quickly jumped the rail, propping open the screen door and pushing the older man inside.

"Listen kid," Billy whispered as they stopped in front of his door, and Paul could hear Rachel's soft breathing across the hall. "I've been thinking about…well a lot things recently. Her sister Rebecca has her family, away from all this and I'm pretty sure Jacob can take care of himself, he just has a tendency to get stuck inside his own problems, but she -" He pointed to Rachel's door. "only has me and I'm an old man. I think I already know that you'll look after her but I need to hear it, I need you to promise me that if…"

"I'd give my life for her, sir." Paul cut in. "That should tell you everything you need to know."

"It does, and less of the sir, Billy will do." He smiled. "Now get to bed before you fall down."

Paul nodded and watched him roll himself into his room before quietly opening Rachel's door and stepping inside. He chuckled at her, curled up into a ball and tightly wrapped up in her sheets.

Rachel protested as he pulled them away and replaced them with his body, instantly relaxing against him and her eyes fluttering.

"I missed you." She whispered and he smiled, pressing his lips to the back of her head.

"I missed you too." He replied and she slowly turned in his arms, her droopy eye's meeting his with a half smile.

She hummed, hooking her legs over his. "I love you Paul."

His breath hitched in his throat and her eyes fell closed again, burrowing her face against his chest. "I….I…" He stammered.

Paul slipped away from her and off the bed, sinking to his knees. "Rach? Rachel, wake up?" He shook her shoulder and she frowned almost jumping up and rubbing her eye's.

"What?" She stared down at him. "What was so important you had to wake me up at - three in the morning? When did you get here?"

"You've been asleep this whole time?" He asked and she nodded her frown deepening. "What…what we're you dreaming about?"

"I don't know I…" She shrugged and then paused, and even in the darkness Paul could see the slight color in the apple of her cheeks. "You. Maybe…Why, what happened?"

Paul chuckled and shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry." He climbed back behind her and she curled into his heat. "Sorry I woke you up baby, go back to sleep."

"Paul?" She asked and he hummed in response. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect baby." He tightened his arms around her and breathed deeply, letting his eyes fall shut.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I promised it would be up and here it is! Mostly filler, I'm struggling a little with this fic right now. Reviews are always appreciated!**

* * *

Rachel awoke with a frown, finding her limbs tangled in Paul's, her body covered in sweat from being buried beneath his and she vaguely recalled him waking her last night, although she wasn't entirely sure why.

A soft knock on the door had Paul grumbling, and burying his head deeper into the crook of her neck as the door opened and Jared popped his head around.

"Sorry Rach," he winced "but we need Paul. Leah's gone after Jake and Seth, and Sam wants us all to meet him as soon as possible."

Rachel sat up, effectively pushing Paul's weight from her body, his hand shooting out blindly behind him to stop himself from falling off the bed as she glared at Jared. "What do you mean Leah's gone after Jake? Where did he go?" She turned her attention to her wolf. "Where the hell is my brother?"

"Babe…" He started wearily as she sat up on her knees, straightening out her top and smoothing back the hair that clung to her sweat dampened face.

"Don't 'babe' me!" She growled as Jared slunk back out of the room and quietly shut the door behind him. "If something's going on with my family I have a right to know! Now tell me!"

"I would if you let me get a word in!" He spat back, swinging his legs off the bed and turning his back to her as she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Paul threw a glance at her over his shoulder and sighed. "You remember the Bella girl I told you about? The one who married the vampire?" She nodded. "Well last night Jake went to the house to find out her status and…"

"Her status?" Rachel cut him off with a frown.

"Human or vampire." He stated bluntly as her mouth dropped open in a silent 'oh' and gestured for him to continue. "Anyway when he got there the situation was-well it wasn't what we expected."

Paul rubbed the palms of his hands against the rough denim of his jean shorts and pushed himself to his feet, pacing agitatedly back and forth across the room.

"Bella, she's…well she's pregnant." He heard a soft gasp behind him and looked to find his imprint wide eyed on the bed. "It's the vampires'."

"Are you sure?" She breathed and he nodded. "Shouldn't that be impossible?"

"You'd think!" He agreed. "And she's not just pregnant she's…" he held his arms out around an imaginary bump "she's already huge!"

"But we only saw her a couple of weeks ago and she was tiny!" Paul shrugged. "What does this have to do with Jake? I don't understand." Rachel frowned and he stopped pacing, breathing a out a large whoosh of air as his eyes locked on hers.

"Sam and Jake had a disagreement about how to handle the situation." He told her. "As far as Sam's concerned, this…thing, is unknown, unpredictable-we have no way of knowing what will happen once it's born. He wants it taken care of before it's to late, whatever the cost."

Rachel tilted her head. "You mean kill it, kill the baby?"

"It's not a baby, it's a monster." He gritted. "And it won't just be the… it'll be Bella too."

"But you're not supposed to kill humans." She whispered and he nodded. "And what about her vampire? He won't just let it happen, he'll…"

"Whatever the cost." Paul repeated softly as Rachel finally pushed herself from the bed and there was another knock at the door. "I have to go."

"No!" Rachel cried stepping in front of him to block the door. "You can't tell me something like that and leave! You still haven't told what happened to Jake!"

"Jake chose to protect Bella. He embraced his Alpha and broke from the pack, Seth Clearwater went with him, they're at the Cullen's." He said sternly. "Now please move?"

"Will you fight?" Her voice was lower again and Paul shook his head with a sigh.

"It won't come to that, not yet at least, not with Jake, Seth and Leah gone. Sam knows better that to try and attack against those kinds of numbers." He dropped his gaze to the floor. "At least I hope he does."

Another knock sounded at the door and this time Jared barely bothered to wait before letting himself in.

"Dude, we really need to go." He said, glancing between the two apologetically.

Paul walked towards the door, pausing quickly to bring a hand to his imprints face cupping her cheek and running his thumb over the bow of her lips as she stared up at him silently, before following Jared through the house.

"Paul!" He stopped, barely off the porch as he heard Rachel call his name and cleared the distance back to the railing in one step as he waited for her to appear. "I…" She trailed off and he pulled her against the guard rail, pressing his face into her chest as her arms wrapped around his head, he could hear her heart thumping erratically as her fingers worked soothingly through his hair.

"I know babe," his lips found her skin "me too."

"Come on man." Jared whispered from behind them and Paul sighed and pulled out from her arms. "Hey Rachel? Kim's hanging over at Emily's for a while today, she's been dying to meet you, I'm sure neither of them would mind if you went over. You can all paint each other's nails or whatever it is you girls do?"

"Thanks!" She smiled, blushing when her eyes caught Paul's. "I might just do that."

And with that the boys disappeared across the reservation.

A couple of hours later found Rachel in front of Emily's open front door. "Hello?" She called, leaning through the doorway. "Emily?"

"Come on in, we're in the kitchen!" A voice called and Rachel followed it through the house until she found Emily and another woman sat at the small kitchen table, surrounded by magazines.

"Hey," Emily smiled getting up to greet her with a swift hug, "You want some coffee?" Rachel nodded, nervously brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Jared said it would be okay if I came over." Her eye's fell on the other woman who sat beaming at her from her seat. "You must be Kim?"

Rachel eye's widened slightly when Kim stood and revealed a petite bump that had been hidden beneath the table.

"Nice to meet you." She leaned across the table and pulled her into a half hug. "I'm sorry I missed you at the bonfire the other week, my morning sickness is more of an 'anytime of day' sickness and it's still not worn off. One whiff of fish fry and I was barfing all over the place!"

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't there for long anyway!" Rachel said quickly, waving her off. "Uh, congratulations!"

"No one told you about this huh?" Kim smirked and Rachel shook her head. "I'm surprised, Jared has told pretty much anyone within a hundred mile radius who will listen!"

"Well they've been a bit distracted lately," Emily shrugged placing three mugs on the table "can't really blame them."

"I guess you heard about Bella too huh?" Kim asked, looking back at Rachel.

"Eventually," she nodded sipping her coffee "once Jared barged in to our room this morning and told me."

"I swear, he has no idea about personal boundaries!" Kim exclaimed. "You weren't- ya know? Were you?"

"Now who has no personal boundaries?" Emily chuckled, eying Kim who poked her tongue out in response. "Saying that, if you had any to begin with you wouldn't be knocked up!"

"Oh but it's so worth it!" She moaned playfully before a frown fell across her face. "Anyway, you're one to talk! I've lost count of the number of times I've walked into the kitchen and found you pinned to the table!"

"It was one time!" Emily yelled, her cheeks blooming.

"And I will never let you live it down!" Kim grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "Sam has a great ass though!"

Emily scowled and swatted at Kim with a dishcloth. "Hey! No assaulting the pregnant lady!"

All three women descended into a fit of giggles, barely noticing as Embry strolled into the kitchen.

"What's so funny?" He asked, disappearing behind the fridge door.

"You really don't wanna know." Kim hiccuped. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at the meeting?"

Embry shifted uncomfortably for a moment. "Sam sent Jared and a couple of the other guys up to the boundary lines to talk to Jake and Leah. I wasn't needed so I got the rest of the afternoon off," he shrugged.

"How's peanut?" He said pointing at Kim, and quickly rounding the table as she stood to reveal her stomach.

"She's good!" Kim beamed, softly rubbing her bump. "I've been feeling her moving a lot more, it's like lots of tiny bubbles insides."

"You sure it's not gas?" Embry asked cocking an eyebrow and earning himself a playful slap on the arm, before squatted in front of her and lifted her shirt a little. "Are you just gonna let her get away with hitting your favorite uncle? Give her a kick for me, you can get away with it better than I can." Kim swatted him again.

"Hey and remember what I said? When you finally get out, you gotta be my wingman. One look at you and the ladies will be all over us!"

"You are not using my child to pick up women!" Kim exclaimed as he rose back to his full height.

"Spoil sport." He huffed. "Well, I think I'm gonna go get some sleep- may as well do something productive with my afternoon."

"Any idea what time the guy's will be done?" Emily asked and he shook his head.

"Guess it depends on how the meeting with Jake goes." Embry shrugged and pushed the screen door. "See you later ladies."

Silence fell over the room, and Rachel glanced at her companions, sighing. "How do you both do it?"

"Do what?" Emily asked, standing to retrieve the coffee pot and refilling their mugs.

"Handle all the waiting?" She clarified. "One minute they're with you and the next they're gone and I don't know about you, but Paul never tells me anything about where he's going, or when he'll be back."

"You get used to it." Kim shrugged. "We don't really have much of a choice. Sam calls, they have to go, it's always been like that."

"Some days are easier than others." Emily chimed in. "Sam doesn't tell me a lot of stuff because I honestly don't want to know. If he just ups and leaves, I can convince myself that he's just tracking a foreign scent and that he'll be home as soon as the pack have taken care of it. Other times, like now, when I know there's a bigger threat, it's harder to ignore."

"It's hard, but you do it- for them as well as you." Kim squeezed Emily's shoulder. "They need to know that you're okay and that you're safe otherwise they loose focus and it put's them in danger. I learnt that the hard way."

"What do you mean?" Rachel frowned.

"Do you know about the newborn army?" She shook her head. "About a year ago, a vampire came after Bella- revenge for her vampire killing her mate. She built up an army of newborn vampires in the city and brought them here to fight against the Cullen's, but the numbers were to big for them to handle alone and the pack agreed to fight with them.

When I found out, I told Jared to stay away from me- that I couldn't handle the waiting around, the not knowing if he would come home safe. I thought it was for the best, but the imprint doesn't see it like that. Separating a wolf from his imprint is never a good thing."

"I know all about that!" Rachel agreed and Kim smiled.

"Jared did as she said- he stayed away from her, but he became a nervous wreck." Emily added. "He spent most of his time in wolf form, because he physically couldn't manage to stay human. He was hard to control and it affected the whole pack. They felt everything he felt, Sam said it was overwhelming."

"I didn't realize how stupid I'd been until my brothers turned up and told me that the army was here. I went running through the forest in my PJ's until I found him!" Kim snorted. "Not the most appropriate way to tell someone you love them, but I couldn't let him go without him knowing."

"I knew anyway." They turned as Jared followed Sam into the house and Kim grinned before standing from her seat and launching herself at him, his hand automatically reaching down to cradle her stomach as he whispered in her ear.

"You all finished?" Emily asked standing up to greet her wolf, who enveloped her in his arms and nuzzled her scars.

"Yeah, for now anyway." Sam nodded. "You girls have fun?"

"Of course!" Kim exclaimed. "Hanging out with me is always fun!"

Two more boys came barreling through the door towards Kim and Jared scooped her out of the way, releasing a low growl as they straightened and mumbled apologies.

"Rach, these are my brothers, this is Brady" Kim said, trying to push one of them away when he tried to wrap his arm around her "and that's Collin."

Collin waved and dumped himself onto the couch while Brady grinned and stalked towards her, gripping her hand and bring it to his lips.

"Hands off pup!" Brady winced and backed away, rubbing the back of his head as Paul scowled at him. "Go find your own fucking imprint, she's mine!"

Rachel chuckled allowing herself to be pulled into his arms, her head finding it's place on his chest right above his heart, feeling his lips on the top of her head and hearing him breath deeply.

She pulled back an looped her arms around his waist. "Any news on Jake?"

He shook his head. "He's staying where he is." Rachel sighed "You wanna get out of here?"

"Would you mind?" She edged and Paul shook his head.

"We're out, I'll see you guys later." Paul shouted across the room while pulling her towards the door.

"Nice meeting you!" Kim yelled back and Rachel smiled and promised to see her again soon.

Paul tucked her under his arm and led her around the house to the tree line.

"Where are we going?" She frowned.

"I don't feel like taking you home just yet," he said helping her over a fallen tree. "Is it okay?"

"Of course it's okay!" Rachel smiled, resting her hand on his stomach and relishing the heat of his skin. "Hey listen, I'm sorry I got angry with you this morning."

"Don't worry about it." He squeezed her harder. "You were right, I should have told you, I just didn't want to wake you up. Sorry baby."

"But you did wake me up." Her frown returned and she stopped to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me then?"

"I was a little distracted," Paul grinned "do you not remember anything?"

Rachel shook her head. "Just that you woke me up. Why?"

"You were talking in your sleep." He pulled her to him. "It was…interesting."

"Oh god!" Rachel dropped her forehead against his chest, her words muffled against his skin. "What did I say?"

A soft chuckle shook his body, he reached down and lifted her head. "Nothing bad. Trust me."

His lips met hers and she sighed, melting into his body, her hearth thrumming in her chest as his hands ran the length of her back and pulled her hips against his.

"I lied," Paul said suddenly, pulling away and Rachel looked up him, confusion plastered across her face "about why I brought you out here. I wanted to show you something."

"Okay?" She cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Close your eyes." Rachel did as he asked, and squeaked when she felt her feet leave the floor. "Don't worry babe, I've got you."

Rachel kept her face pressed against his skin as he walked them both through the trees without falter.

"Now, you have to use your imagination." He said cryptically putting her back on her feet and keeping her turned towards him. "It was just an idea, so it doesn't matter if you don't like it just…"

"Why don't you let me see so I can decide for myself?" She smiled softly and Paul nodded and let her turn around.

Her eyes widened at the sight before her. A small wooden house, set a few hundred yards back from the reservation, it was missing a few boards, the porch steps were broken, the door was gone and the windows had no glass.

"Remember, I said to use your imagination." Paul reminded her, taking her hand and leading her towards the building. "I've checked it out and the structures pretty sound, although obviously it needs some work."

He lifted her over the steps and placed her on the porch. "The entire outside needs re-cladding and window frames, but the roof is salvageable." He guided her through the doorway, instructing her to watch her step and leading her into a rather pitiful kitchen. "These cupboards aren't too bad and with a scrub and some paint the should be better than okay. I can put an island in here and the stove over there." Paul twisted around, pointing out various things, what he planned to do and what would go where.

He pulled her past the small den and down the hallway. "This is the bathroom, again not up to much but it does have…"

"A roll top bath!" Rachel squealed and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"I don't think I'll ever get the female obsession with roll top baths." He shrugged dragging her out of the room and across the hall. "And this is the bedroom. So what do you think?"

"What do I think of what?" She asked, folding her arms and stepping towards him until they were chest to chest.

"The house!" Paul exclaimed. "Do you think you could like it?"

Rachel pursed her lips, fighting the smile that she was desperate to give. "Paul, is this your way of asking me to move in with you?"

"Okay, fine!" He rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "Rach, will you move in with me? Here- when I get it ready?"

She unfolded her hands and traced her finger over his chest, her lip between her teeth as she glanced up at him from under her lashes. "Where would our bed go?"

"What?" He frowned and she cocked her eyebrow, firing him a lopsided smirk.

"Well if this is the bedroom, where will our bed go?" She dragged her finger back down, his muscles twitching under her touch until she came to rest at the button of his shorts. His eyes darkened as she flicked it open and teased her way underneath the waistband.

"We can put the bed wherever the fuck you want!" Paul growled, lifting her from the ground and dumping her on an abandoned shell of a dresser that sat in the corner of the room. One hand tugged at the neckline of her shirt, dragging it down to reveal the swell of her breast, his mouth claiming every inch of visible flesh as while the other fisted the hem of her skirt.

He slid his hand up the soft skin of her thighs, until he reached her ass and dragged her forward until her covered core was flush against his erection.

Rachel worked frantically at his shorts, loosening the zipper and dropping them to the floor, her hand automatically finding his length and settling into a tantalizing rhythm.

Paul groaned and dropped his head onto her shoulder, whispered profanities filling her ears as her fingers worked the head of his cock. With a final growl he ripped her panties aside, dipping his fingers into her folds to test her readiness before sheathing himself in her slick heat.

The dresser slammed against the wall with each thrust, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips as she drove to meet him.

He lifted her effortlessly as the wood began to split with the force of their bodies, turning her into the wall and continuing his welcome assault on her body. Rachel's fingers clawed at his shoulders as she began to feel that familiar flutter in her center, a loud cry escaping her lips as she went tumbling into her climax with Paul not far behind.

She held his head to her chest, his breath heating her already blushing skin.

"Should I take that as a yes?" He grinned up at her as she regained her breath and she nodded with a soft laugh.

Their lips met softly, without frenzy as he lowered her back to her feet and helped her straighten her clothes.

"I told you I loved you." Rachel's quiet words had him whipping his head towards her. "Last night I told you I loved you, didn't I?"

Paul nodded. "Yeah, but you were sleeping so…"

"It's true." She said cutting him off. "I do love you, more than I probably should after such a short time, but I can't… it feels right!"

He stared down at her, searching her eyes as his hand cupped her cheek and finally a wide grin broke across his face. "I love you too, babe."


End file.
